Burned
by Vegorott
Summary: Six years since the battle with Asura. Kid and Black-Star are off on their own after leaving Death City then they are found by old friends who try to convince them to come back. Will they go and if the do, what will they find in the new Death City? Rated: T KidStar and SoMa.
1. It All Starts

I'm back with a new KidStar story. This one is placed six years after they defeated the kishin Asura in the anime. Characters may be a little ooc at points, it's been six years, people change at least a little, but other than that they should still be their same old selves...kind of.

Warnings for this story: KidxBlack-Star mostly, SoulxMaka (You'll see that in the first paragraph), plenty of violence/gore, some character deaths (Sorry), and language.

So if you dislike yaoi, swearing or fights, I apologize and you can enjoy either another one of my stories or something else. I love all of you who are reading this and hopefully continue reading this story. X's and O's. Enjoy the sad and dramatic story.

* * *

The restaurant's host noticed the struggling woman and man trying to get the doors open, he ran over and pulled open the door. The host gave the couple a smile that wasn't one of his well-known fake one,s that he became popular for and he hadn't had a real smile in this place in a long time.

"Thank you." The man said. "If my wife here wasn't so stubborn, we'd be fine." He chuckled.

"I'm not stubborn and I don't need help all the time." The woman insisted. The host gave her a raised eyebrow as the man gestured towards her protruding stomach. "The baby isn't going to die because I wanted to open my own door for the first time in seven months."

"congratulations to the two of you, now do you have a reservation?" The host asked.

"Yes we do. A table for four. Evans." The man stated, smiling and showing his oddly sharp teeth.

"Will the others be joining you soon?" The host asked, grabbing four menus from his podium.

"Yes, they should be here any minute now." The woman said and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, her curled pigtails didn't get all of her bangs. The host nodded and showed the way to their table. His smile returned as he watched the man pull the chair out for his wife and with a roll of her green eyes, she sat down and allowed herself to be pushed in.

"What would you like to drink?"

"Cherry coke." The two said together and they started laughing. The host chuckled and walked off to get the couple their beverages.

"This is crazy." The woman sighed. "It's been five whole years since we've seen them Soul."

"I think you being pregnant is crazier Maka." Soul said and kissed Maka's cheek.

"It's a close second." Maka said and patted her stomach. She suddenly stood up and let out a squeal. Soul turned and saw her hugging two other men.

"Nice to know you guys are alive." Soul said to his old friends.

"You got fat." The man with blue hair stated.

"Idiot, she's pregnant." The other man cuffed him.

"And they never changed." Soul chuckled. "Come and take a seat you crazy bastards." Soul was soon joined by the other three. "You grew Black-Star." He commented, noticing that the blue-haired man's arms were larger than before and he was finally the same height as the man sitting next to him.

"Construction work will do that to ya." Black-Star said.

"You have a job?" Maka chuckled in disbelief.

"We both do." The star said.

"What do you do Kid?" Soul asked the paler man.

"I teach martial arts in my own dojo." Kid answered.

"That's cool." Soul said, sharing a look with Maka. A waiter came up to the table and set down the cherry Cokes down. Kid and Black-Star both asked for Sprite and the waiter nodded and left.

"What have you two been doing with your lives, beside the obvious." Kid chuckled. Maka and Soul both stood up and removed their jackets, rolling up their sleeves to show scars and burn marks covering their arms.

"We've been in war for four years." They said together and sat back down

"What do you mean?" Kid asked, hoping this was a horrible joke.

"A year after you guys left. Two years after Asura's defeat...they came back." Soul rolled his sleeves back down and Maka did as well.

"Who came back?"

"Kishins and they aren't normal." Maka said. "We need you guys to come back." She begged. "We need you two."

"We can't go back." Black-Star stated.

"You have to." Soul said.

"We can't!" Black-Star snapped and stood up, almost knocking his chair over.

"Black-Star." Kid placed his hand over the star's and Soul noticed they were both wearing rings.

"You guys are married." Soul pointed to the ringed fingers. He then let out a small laugh. "Who are the poor women that married you guys?"

"Soul..." Maka saw that the rings were matching, both having a star carved into it. Soul saw the symbol and looked down.

"You two...I should have seen it coming. I'm your guys' friend, how did I not see it?"

"It's legal, you can come back." Maka stated, believing that to be the reason they had ran off.

"That's not the problem." Black-Star sat back down.

"Then come back, people are dying as we speak." Soul stated, looking back up.

"Why don't you ask my father, he's the one that kicked us out of Death City." Kid said with anger burning his bright amber eyes.

"What? Lord Death would never do that." Soul said.

"You weren't there. Black-Star and myself visited my father and told him we were together, I thought he would be happy, he always talked about me trying to be normal and live like a normal teenager but that wasn't the case. He said to either end it or to leave. So the next day we packed up and we left Death City." Kid was gripping the table as he told the story.

"You could have least said good-bye." Maka stated.

"We had to leave." Kid said as his apology and explanation.

"That's not good enough!" Maka slammed a fist into the table, startling other people in the restaurant. "Why didn't you tell us, we could have helped!"

"How? By making us lie? By trying to convince my father it's not wrong to be someone of the same gender?" Kid said through gritted teeth.

"We..." Maka rubbed a hand against her eye to dry it up, she was not going to cry over this. "If you would have stayed..." Maka heard her voice cracked, looks like she was wrong. "If you wouldn't be such a stubborn brat they wouldn't be dead!" She cried, hating her uncontrollable emotions from the child growing inside of her.

"Who's dead?"

"Too many to count."Soul said.

"How were we supposed to know that was going to happen?" Black-Star asked. "We figured you guys would be fine without us, if there was even a single thought of-"

"It's too late now!" Maka interrupted the star. The waiter returned with the clear sodas and set them down, the tension at the table grew in the silence.

"Have you decided what to eat yet?" The waiter asked, pulling a pen out of his pocket.

"Then why should we come back if it's too late?" Kid stated.

"Should I come back?" The waiter asked.

"You have to, we need you." Maka said.

"What right do you have to tell us what to do!?"

"I'll come back." The waiter rushed off.

"What right did you have to abandon us!?"

"We didn't abandon you!" Black-Star protested.

"That's what it felt like." Soul stated. "You left us without a single word of where you were going. That's what abandoning is."

"I'll show you what abandoning is. We are leaving Black-Star." Kid got out of his seat.

"But Kid-"

"Now!" Kid snapped and left the table.

"Go ahead and run, that's all you're good at now-a-days!" Maka shouted. "Run from us and your dying father!" Kid didn't hear the last part as he threw the doors open and out into the chilly night-time air, Black-Star following right beside him. This isn't how either of them wanted to end the night like this. They wanted a nice reunion with friends they haven't seen in years, but instead they argued over something as stupid as returning to their home city.

"Kid..." Black-Star said as they sat down in their car. "Maybe I should drive." He said, seeing Kid grip the steering wheel tightly.

"Why? I'm perfectly capable to take us home." Kid insisted and pulled the keys out of his pocket. Black-Star grabbed the shinigami's hand.

"You're not when you're pissed off." The star said and gently took the keys away. "Let me drive, please." Kid sighed and opened his door and got out. Black-Star climbed over to the driver's seat as Kid went around and sat down in the passenger's seat. "Are you okay?" Black-Star asked as he turned the car on.

"I just want some music." Kid flicked the radio on and a slow and sad song started to play.

"Fitting." The star muttered and turned out of the parking lot.

"Shut up." Kid said and changed stations.

"Memphis May Fire." Black-Star said as the new song played.

"Where were you when they had no faith in us..." Kid said the lyrics of the song and quickly changed it.

"Are you okay Kid?"

"I'm peachy and you?" Kid grumbled, placing his elbow on the window ledge and leaned his cheek against his fist.

"Peachy? Haven't heard that in a while." Black-Star laughed.

"Ass-hat."

"I thought that was my phrase." The star smirked. Kid rolled his eyes and pressed a button to make the window go down. "Roll your window up, it's freezing."

"Wimp." Kid chuckled and did as his partner asked.

"I like it when my balls aren't freezing." Was Black-Star's response.

"You're too much of a hot head to get cold." Kid said, drumming his fingers against the window.

"Well I'm good enough to be your spouse, so who's the hot head now?"

"Have we really been gone for five years?" Kid asked, staring at the passing lights and buildings.

"Yeah and they've been the best five years of my life."

"Now you're just getting sappy."

"You married me." Black-Star said as he pulled into the small driveway that sat next to their small house. "Home sweet home." The star turned off the ignition and followed Kid into the house. Black-Star went straight to the kitchen and Kid turned the television on, going to the news channel.

"Someone robbed the gas station." Kid said.

"Again?" Black-Star asked.

"Yeah, some child with a sword."

"A sword?" The star laughed and exited the kitchen with two sandwiches in his hands. "He's not a child, he's seventeen."

"I remember being seventeen." Kid sighed.

"Your birthday was a week before we left." Black-Star stated handing one of the sandwiches to Kid.

"Happy birthday to me." Kid muttered and sat down on the couch, placing his sandwich on a small table that sat on the end of the couch.

"Did they catch the dude?" Black-Star asked, taking a large bite out of his food.

"Easily, took them an hour to find, catch and put the boy in jail." Kid answered.

"Wanna rob a store?" The star joked, already halfway finished with his sandwich.

"Maybe in the morning after we bury the body that's stinking up the closet." When he spoke of someone being dead, Maka's scream about people dying now because they have been gone for so long, rang in his head.

"We'll need to get the shovel." Black-Star chuckled and finished his food. "Are you not hungry?" He asked, noticing Kid's sandwich was still untouched.

I don't have an appetite right now." Kid said.

"Still thinking about the argument?" The star asked moving over to be closer to Kid.

"No."

"I can tell you're lying." Black-Star said, using a hand to turn the other man's face towards him.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You don't have to." Black-Star leaned forward and pressed their lips together.

"I'm not in the mood." Kid said as he allowed himself to be pushed down on to his back. The star didn't respond and kissed the other man again. Kid soon gave up and wrapped his arms around Black-Star's neck to deepen the kiss that was becoming very intense, very quickly.

A single gun shot snapped both men out of their mood. Black-Star jumped off the couch and Kid rolled over. They laid on their stomachs on the floor, covering their heads with their hands. Several shots fired into their home, shattering the window and a flower vase they had been given from one of Kid's younger students. The gunshots stopped and soon the silent house was filled with flashing red and blue lights.

"Are you okay Kid?" Black-Star asked, several pieces of glass covering Kid's back and his own.

"Yeah." They sat up and brushed themselves off. Kid got up went over to a container that held five frightened mice.

"They all still there?"

"Liz, Patty, Tsubaki, Soul and Maka." Kid said the mice's names out loud as he counted. "Yep, gang's all there."

"That's the third time this week." Black-Star looked through the broken window and saw several men being arrested and two being put into ambulances.

"I hate this town." Kid muttered and took the mice and himself into the bedroom.

"It's what we can afford." Black-Star stated and followed Kid.

"I'm calling in tomorrow, I'm out." Kid shook an empty pill bottle in his hand, standing in front of a dresser. "Do you need more?" Kid grabbed another bottle and found it empty as well. "How long have you been out?" He asked, slamming the bottle down.

"A couple days." The star admitted.

"Why didn't you tell me!?" Kid snapped.

"I don't like taking pills that make me weaker." Black-Star said.

"You have to. If they discover how strong you are they will sign you up for the military and we will never see each other again!" Kid knocked everything off of the dresser.

"That's not going to happen." Black-Star reassured and hugged Kid's waist.

"We don't have the protection of the DWMA anymore Black-Star. Either we act like we're normal or across the seas we go." Kid pulled the star's hand off of him.

"We can easily avoid the government."

"Then we'll be on the run. I like having a normal life." Kid said and plopped down on the bed. His head hitting the pillow hard and his feet soon following on the end of the mattress.

"Admit it Kid, you miss the excitement. You miss the adrenaline that rushed through your veins during a battle. Giving orders to keep others safe while we took out yet another bad guy. You miss being him." Black-Star climbed on the bed, straddling the other man's hips. "You miss being Kiddo."

"Do not call me that. That nickname is for a child that is long gone."

"It's your nickname, child or not. You are and you will always be; my Kiddo." Black-Star gently kissed Kid again, parting soon after.

"Why are you so adorable sometimes." Kid sighed, running a hand through the star's blue hair.

"I'm not adorable, I'm sexy. Adorable is what you call a puppy chasing it's tail, sexy is being the almighty Black-Star." Black-Star said with a wink.

"More like the almighty idiot." Kid chuckled.

"I will use your weakness." Black-Star threatened.

"You wouldn't dare." Kid said with a glare. The star smirked and Kid soon found himself being tickled. He hated how ticklish he was sometimes. "That's it." Kid said with a laugh and switched his and Black-Star's positions. The shinigami turned the alarm off and covered the mice's clear container with a blanket before slipping his shirt off. They were still refilling their bottles tomorrow, but there's nothing wrong with having some fun first.

* * *

Wow that was a long chapter and wow that was a lot of seriousness...

I like this story so far, I think I'm going to keep it. *Claps*

What do you guys think so far? Is it a keeper?


	2. Leaving For Good

So I just got yelled at to update as soon as possible by a dedicated reader, a.k.a. a very annoying person know who you are...plus someone said it was a keeper and I have followers.

Let's get back to the story shall we?

* * *

The alarm went off, buzzing the same dull note repeatedly. Kid woke up found that he had been using Black-Star's bare chest as a pillow and with a sigh, he reached over the other man to turn the clock off. After the annoying buzzing had been stopped, Kid sat up and stretched, letting out a soft groan as he felt bones pop and crack along his slightly sore body.

"Get up Black-Star." The shinigami said and shook Black-Star with a hand on his shoulder. Kid saw that he had his hand covering Black-Star's star tattoo, the shinigami remembering for the longest time telling the star to either get another tattoo or remove the one. He had been told, actually there weren't any words passed for Black-Star's explanation for why Kid shouldn't waste his time worrying about a tattoo he had been given as a small child. Kid saw his foot and smiled at the small star tattoo he had gotten on his ankle on Black-Star's twenty-first birthday...Kid never wanted to drink that much ever again.

"Don't wanna." Was the star's response after a while and he turned over on to his side. Kid only rolled his eyes and got off of the bed, dragging the blanket off along with him. Black-Star let out a grunt and curled up in a ball, trying to keep his now completely exposed body warm.

"Damn it Black-Star get up!" Kid snapped and threw a shoe at the star.

"What the hell?" Black-Star asked after getting hit in the head with a shoe. He rubbed sleep from his eyes and was greeted with the sight of Kid's bare rear as the paler man slipped on a pair of black boxers. "Good morning sunshine." He chuckled and sat up, a large smirk on his face.

"Get in the shower and I'll make breakfast." Kid stated and slipped on a black robe that fit him perfectly.

"First time you offered to cook." Black-Star said with a light chuckle and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Although you could just join me in the shower and I'll cook." The star offered, cocking his head in attempt to see up Kid's robe.

"How about you get in the shower now or you're sleeping on the couch for the next month." Kid tightened his robe's string and walked out of the room.

"You're no fun!" Black-Star called after his partner and decided to get in the shower, not wanting to risk weather Kid's threat was serious or not.

Kid stood in front of the old fashioned fire-top stove, watching and listening to the eggs frying in the skillet. He smiled when the sound of Black-Star's singing soon over powered the eggs crackling. Black-Star was not the greatest singer in the world, but it was bearable.

"What happened to Miss. Independent? No longer the need to be defensive. Good-bye, old you. When love is true."

Kid remembered when they had taken a break from their work Black-Star had dragged him to a restaurant for lunch. While they were finishing up, the song he was now singing started playing and Black-Star looked at him with a smirk and started singing along with the music, loudly. Kid had covered his red face with his hands while other couples and groups of younger girls giggled and 'aw'd at them. With a shaking head and a larger smile from the crazy memory, Kid stepped away from the eggs and placed two pieces of bread in a small toaster, pressing down on a button to start its toasting. The eggs had just finished and he placed them on two plates when the sound of the shower stopped. Black-Star joined the shinigami in the kitchen with a towel wrapped around his shoulders and a pair of gray pants.

"I thought you were done with gray pants." Kid commented as the toaster popped.

"I decided to give them another chance." Black-Star stated and reached over Kid to grab one of the slices of toasted bread. "Nice to see you got your appetite back." Black-Star chuckled at Kid who had already started eating his egg.

"I didn't eat last night." Kid said and put another fork-full of egg in his mouth.

"I'm sure I satisfied you enough last night." Black-Star kissed the other man's cheek before walking off to find a shirt.

"You're a perverted bastard!" Kid called.

"And you love me!" The star said back. Kid grabbed his toast and went back into the bedroom. He took the bread and crushed it in his hands and dropped it into the mice's container.

"I still can't believe we have pet mice." Black-Star said and slipped his shirt on.

"You wanted to kill them, they never did anything wrong." Kid said and picked up the one they called Maka.

"Why aren't you that way with me?" Black-Star asked.

"Because you can take care of yourself." Kid placed the mouse back in the container and the mouse called Soul started licking mouse Maka's ears. "I'm going in the shower. Make sure the kitchen is clean when I get back out." The shinigami walked out without another word. With a quick look at the mice, Black-Star went back into the kitchen and quickly ate his egg while he listened to running water from the bathroom.

Black-Star was washing the last dish when he heard Kid call out his name. The star dried his hands and went into the bedroom where the first thing he saw was Kid bending over in their closet in only a towel.

"I can't find my favorite black pants." Kid stated. Black-Star reached into the closet and pulled out the pants that were being searched for. "Shut up." Kid muttered and took the pants away. "Are you ready to leave?" Kid asked as he removed his towel after pulling a pair of boxers from a drawer.

"Do we have to?" Black-Star asked, watching Kid get dressed.

"I already told you. We are going." Kid grabbed the two empty bottles and walked out of the house, Black-Star following behind like a saddened puppy. Kid sat in the driver's seat and drove off with a pouting Black-Star in the other seat. They drove in silence and pulled the car into the parking lot of a small café.

"You're taking one as soon as she makes new one." Kid stated as he pulled the keys out of the ignition.

"They don't taste good." The star whined.

"I don't care." Kid stated. Black-Star muttered under his breath and the two men went into the café, getting greeted by a very happy woman.

"Hi Kid. Hi Black-Star. How can I help you two?" She asked.

"Hello Ella, we need to talk to Blair." Kid said.

"Okie-dokie, come with me." Ella grabbed the men's hands and took them back into the cafe's kitchen. "Blair, your men are here." Ella called then gave the two kisses on the cheeks and skipped off.

"Hey you two!" Blair waved from behind a counter.

"Should we come back!?" Kid shouted over the beeping of several ovens and microwaves.

"My shift ends in five, take a seat and I'll take to you soon." Blair mde her hand into a fist slowly and two chairs slid across the ground and the men were pushed off of their feet so they were forced to sit. They watched as Blair pulled a tray of chicken wings from the oven and with several points they were dressed and ready to be plated.

"Alright Blair you can go, I can take over." A young man said as he entered the cooking area.

"Thank you Eddy." Blair giggled and removed her apron and hair net. "So what do you two need?" The cat asked with a pur.

"We ran out of our pills." Kid stated.

"I was expecting you guys a week ago." Blair said and reached into her pocket. Kid glared at the other man. "Here you go." Blair handed two bags filled with blue and red pills to Kid. "That'll last you two a good two months...you seem off." Blair said after brushing her hand against Kid's. "Something happened." She stated.

"Soul and Maka showed up yesterday." Black-Star said and received an elbow to the side from Kid.

"Soul and Maka...I haven't talked to them in years, not since I left Death City."

"At least you're proving what you said you could do. You have a job and have your own apartment." Kid could almost remember every word Soul had said to Blair about being unable to take care of herself. Blair had accidentally set Maka's and Soul's home on fire while she was trying to cook something for the two of them and Soul wasn't happy to find all of his belongings turned to ash because Blair didn't know how to work a fire extinguisher. Maka was mad as well with all of her books gone and they didn't realise what they had done to Blair before it was too late and the cat with magic in her, left and never came back. She never wanted to cause those two that much pain ever again by living with them. Blair left Death City a month before Kid and Black-Star followed and they lived with Blair and her roommate Ella till they could afford their own home.

"So how are Maka and Soul doing?" Blair asked with extreme interest.

"Maka's pregnant." Kid stated.

"That is amazing!" Blair cheered. "How's the rest of the city?"

"It's..." Kid's sentence trailed. Maka's and Soul's scared arms came to mind, their shouts of dying people and how much they begged for them to go back. "It's horrible."

"Kid..." Black-Star put a hand on Kid's shoulder when he saw the shinigami grip his knees.

"What's wrong?" Blair asked.

"Death City is under attack and we're sitting here, living normal lives while they are dying everyday." Kid stood up and took a deep breath. "Black-Star, we're going back to Death City."

"I'm going with you." Blair said.

"No, you need to stay here, I'm not risking you getting hurt as well."

"But-"

"Please. Stay."

"I want to help." Blair insisted.

"I'm sorry Blair." Kid threw the bags in the trash can. "But enough people have died because of us, I don't want you to get hurt too."

"Fine, but at least let me do this." Blair placed a hand over Kid's chest and a second later he felt something surge through him. As if something was pushed out and everything went back into its correct place. He gasped for air after Blair removed her hand and she went over and did the same thing to Black-Star. Kid looked at his hands and clenched them, power and strength built up inside of him. He was back.

"Oh how I've missed this!" Black-Star cheered, pounding a fist into his chest.

"We'll come back when everything's safe, Blair." Kid promised.

"You better, with you guys gone, I'll get bored again." Blair whined, her ears bending down. "Don't do anything too stupid, that's my job." She said with a giggle and blew a kiss to the men as the left the café and returned to their car.

"We're going back to the house and packing up first." Kid stated as he pulled the car our of the parking lot.

"So what made you change your mind?" Black-Star asked after several minutes of silence.

"They were right." Kid said, eyes glaring at the road.

"Who?"

"Soul and Maka. We have to go back, we left them and look what happened." Kid picked up the speed, praying no cops saw them. He swung the car into the driveway and hopped out, leaving the keys in the car. Black-Star ran in after the shinigami and soon they had half of their home packed into the back-end of the car. Black-Star took over the driving, convincing Kid he was too upset the be trusted behind the wheel again. They had argued for a few minutes before the shinigami sat in the passenger side of the car. Kid had their mice on the ground between his legs and they were ready to take off for Death City. They were going back for Maka, Soul and all the others they had named the mice after.

"How long is the trip going to take?" Black-Star asked, curving the car into a highway lane.

"Good two hours before we can even see the city." Kid answered. "Get in the fast lane, we need to get there as soon as possible. I can't believe we moved so far away."

"We went after Blair and we'll get there, don't worry. How about you take a nap and I'll wake you when we get close."

"I don't know if I can sleep."

"Try, you never know."

Kid sighed and leaned his seat back. He closed his eyes and tried to relax his mind. Kid's mind drifted as sleep finally hit him, his dream was blank until gruesome images of his friends flashed in front of him. Crying out for him, asking why he wasn't there to save them? Why did he leave? Why did he abandon them? Why Kid. Why?

"Kid, wake up." The shinigami snapped out of his nightmare after feeling a hand shake his knee roughly.

"What?" Kid looked around and it took his brain a moment to register that he was in a car.

"You were flipping out, muttering 'why' under your breath. Are you okay?"

"Yeah...just...just a bad dream."

"The turn off is right ahead, I was about to wake you anyways."

"Something...something doesn't feel right." Kid said as they got closer and closer to the turn, the large empty field feeling as if there was something evil in it.

"There's a war going on, remember?"

"Should we go? What if we make everything worse?" Kid asked, rolling down the window to get a blast of air into his face. Black-Star stared in silence for a moment as Kid's hair flew about from the wind.

"It's too late now." Black-Star said as he slowed down and went down into a dirt path that wasn't used often by the look of it. They felt the car pass through something that felt like a force field and the sight of a large city sat in the middle of a forested area. "There is it." Black-Star said, Kid squinted and swore he saw something rising from the highest point of the city where the DWMA's main building was located. He crawled his body out of the window to get a better look and as they neared the city, Kid's fear was saw clearly now. Smoke.

"The academy's on fire!" He cried out.

"What!?" Get back in the car!" Black-Star ordered and as soon as the other man followed his direction, he adjusted the stick shift and slammed the accelerator to the floor, gripping the steering wheel tightly. The star knew there would be dents in the steering wheel when he was done driving, but he didn't care at the moment. What Black-Star cared about was getting to the burning building as soon as possible. He saw the smoke himself soon and Kid saw small flames falling below the large smoke cloud.

"Death City...is burning." Kid said softy, seeing his home, the place where he grew up and lived for most of his life, burn into bright flames.

* * *

Look more seriousness and another long chapter. Maybe I'll keep the whole story like this, long chapters seem to make readers happier when it comes to my stories.


	3. The Gang's Not Here

I feel like I'm going to get yelled at with every chapter I post...looks like I'm doing a good job with this story. ;)

I'm also doing well with the updating already, that might be from the closing of school for the second day in a row, but whatever, more for you guys to read.

* * *

Black-Star was driving like a mad man as they made it into the forested area, tearing through a path that consisted of plenty of bumps. Kid didn't complain as he had to grip on to his seat to prevent his head from hitting the car's roof. He actually wanted Black-Star to go faster. The window was still down and Kid didn't bother rolling it backup, other things occupied his mind.

"Left!" Kid shouted over the rushing wind. Black-Star jerked the wheel and the car barely made the sharp turn and he quickly turned the steering wheel to make a right turn that happened only moments after the previous turn. They approached a fork in the road and the star followed Kid's order of going left. Black-Star had to adjust the stick shift and both of them had forgotten the speed bump as they drove over it at full speed. The car lifted several feet in the air as it broke through the forest. Kid and Black-Star both grunted when the car landed roughly on the now smooth of them questioned how they remembered the trail to take to prevent them from getting lost in the woods.

"Shit!" Black-Star cursed after something slammed into the front window and a crack covered Kid's half of the window.

"What was that!?" Kid asked, leaning his head out of the car to look behind them.

"I don't know!" They both let out a shout when something landed on the roof of the car and five small claws stuck out above Kid's head. Black-Star pushed harder on the accelerator and the claws soon disappeared. Kid let out a scream when something popped its ugly black and red head in his open window. The car started to heat up and Kid saw that the inside of the monster's mouth was filled with flames. Kid reached between his and Black-Star's seat, pulled out a gun and shot the burning monster in the eye. The thing fell off and rolled off the road. "When did we get a gun!?" Black-Star asked, feeling the car jump after he ran over one of the small monsters that just stood in the car's way.

"I put in here just in case!" Kid admitted and shot at another monster that tried to climb in his window. Another one went to Black-Star's side and started to breathe fire on the star's window. The glass weakened from the heat and it warped inwards towards Black-Star. "Lean back!" Black-Star went as far back as he could in his seat and Kid fired the gun and knocked off the monster.

"That was awfully close to my face!?" Black-Star shouted and turned the steering wheel, but nothing happened. "We have no steering!" The star let out a harsh curse and put his foot down on the brake, again, nothing happened. "We've lost control!" Black-Star reached into the back of the car and grabbed the first thing he could find, a fire extinguisher. A monster shattered his window and the star responded by shooting the foam from the container into the thing's mouth. He then smashed the extinguisher into the monster's face and knocked it off.

"What are we going to do!?" Kid asked, firing off several more shots. They both froze at the sound of something popped and suddenly the car jerked and started doing doughnuts. The car stopped spinning and tilted to one side for a second before slamming back down on all four tires. One of them had been slashed open which caused the spinning. Kid and Black-Star both climbed out of the car as quickly as they could. Kid remembered that he left the mice in the car, but it was too late as the car burst into flames as they ran. They tripped and watched their car and belongings burn. "The mice..."

"There's no time!" Black-Star grabbed Kid's hand and dragged him to his feet. Kid saw one of the monsters climb to the top of the car with mouse Tsubaki in its hand. He took the squealing mouse's head and ripped it off, eating it without a second thought. Kid got a better look at the creatures that attacked them. They were black with some hints of red that pulsed out of them like a heartbeat and they had blue eyes that were too clear for their fiery bodies. They had short, but sharp claws attached to the end of their thin hands and spikes trailed along their spines. Kid didn't like how they looked, he didn't like it at all.

As he ran with Black-Star, Kid checked his gun and saw that he was out of bullets. Kid cursed and tucked the weapon into the back of his pants. Black-Star still had the extinguisher in his hands and that made the shinigami feel a little better. They finally made it into Death City and they got hit with everything the city has gone through. Many buildings were burned either pile of ash on the ground or barely able to stand on their on and could fall from a simple breeze. Windows were shattered doors were missing. The city was silent except for the occasional screech from a far away monster. They were alone.

The two men froze when they saw something move in the window of one of the larger buildings. The figure looked familiar to both of them and they took off towards the building and without knocking, entered the house. Black-Star stepped in front of Kid when they were greeted by someone pointing a gun at them and it took them a second to realize who each other were.

"Patty?" Kid said, pushing the star out of his way.

"Kid..." Patty lowered her gun and tears formed in her eyes. "Kid!" She cried and hugged the man, her tighter than Kid expected.

"Is everything okay Patty?" A taller version of the girl asked as she entered the room.

"Hey Liz." Kid said weakly, the breath getting crushed out of him.

"Kid!" Liz ran over and hugged the man as well, she was surprised at how tall the shinigami was now.

"Black-Star?" A woman asked at the entrance of the room, whipping her hands off on a cloth.

"Tsubaki?" Black-Star let out a gasp from the sudden hug he received. Liz removed herself a second later and slapped Kid across the face, the sound causing Black-Star and Tsubaki to stop.

"Where the hell have you been!?" Liz demanded. "You disappear five years ago, we haven't heard a single thing from you and you decide to just show up at our front door!"

"Calm down Liz,they can tell us their story after we finish taking care of the others." Tsubaki threw the cloth over her shoulder and lead the group into a room where a large crowd of people sat together and ate from bowls.

"You guys came!" Maka cheered and struggled to get up and she walked over to the two men.

"Looks like you to decided we were good enough for your time." Soul muttered, standing up beside Maka.

"We didn't know..." Kid started.

"Of course you didn't, you left us to burn." Came a harsh voice from the crowd.

"Shut up Ox." The man sitting next to Ox said. "How were they supposed to know this place was going to get taken over?"

"Thank you Killik." Tsubaki said.

"Why the hell are there strangers here?" A large man with a strangely colored eye, demanded as he walked in, bowel in one hand and a piece of bread in the other.

"It's Kid and Black-Star, Free." Liz answered.

"Have you checked them?" The large man named Free asked.

"No, but-"

"Check them now." Free snapped. Without a word, Tsubaki took Black-Star's extinguisher away and patted his sides to look for anything else. Kid's gun was removed by Patty and Liz took away his wallet that held some cash and his and Black-Star's driver's licences.

"The gun's empty." Patty stated.

"The extinguisher isn't." Tsubaki said.

"I'll put the gun in the armory and keep the extinguisher in here, might come in handy if the little bastards try to break in here." Free ordered and quickly finished what was inside of the bowel.

"I know you, you worked for Arachne." Kid said, getting a better look at the man.

"It's been six years, things change." Free set his bowel down on a counter that held other empty bowels.

"What happened?" Black-Star asked.

"Some crazy shit." Free took the empty gun from Patty and walked back out of the room without saying anymore.

"Come sit with us, we'll explain everything." Tsubaki went into the group and sat down with plenty of space for Kid, Black-Star, Liz and Patty to squeeze in.

"Why did you guys leave?" Liz asked, crossing her even longer legs. Kid and Black-Stars shared a look, deciding if they should tell the truth or not.

"I can tell them." Soul offered, staring at the men's rings as he and Maka went back to their seats.

"We..." Kid looked down and shook his head.

"They went after Blair." Maka said. "They've been trying to convince her to come back."

"It took them five years?" Ox asked.

"They meet someone." Killik stated, pointing out that the two had rings on, but not noticing that they matched, no one took the effort to see that.

"Where are they?" Patty asked. "We could use more people."

"They were attacked, did they not make it?" Tsubaki asked, remembering Kid's used up gun.

"Um...no, they didn't." Kid said softly. "So...tell us about yourselves."

"It all started a good year after you guys left." Everyone quieted down as they listened to Tsubaki tell the story. "Kim and Jacqueline were exploring deep in the basement of the academy, somewhere they shouldn't have been. We don't know how they got there, maybe someone left the door open, but while they were down there, they accidentally released something that was buried deeper than Asura was. Lord Death had another thing hiding in the DWMA and it got out. Kim and Jacqueline are gone." She stopped when Ox threw his bowel down and it shattered. "We've had no contact from them, we know we aren't the only ones left in the city but we can't make assumptions. After the fire kishin was released it sent out little monsters, the things that attacked you and we've been trying to take them out for years."

"Sometimes it feels like when one is taken out, five more come and takes it place." Liz sighed.

"At first we just fought them and we soon discovered it was going to take more than one fight as the battle drawled out and we were loosing tons of people. They took all of the witches and killed them, absorbing their souls. There aren't any more witches here. Angela and Mifune are gone, both dead and taken in." Tsubaki watched as Free decided to rejoin them with several guns and swords hanging from his body. "Free gathered us after he discovered what happened and we've all lived here since."

"Where's Sid?" Black-Star asked, noticing that the zombie was missing.

"He's getting ready." Free answered and he saw the shattered bowel pieces on the ground. "Who broke their bowel?" The wolf asked, seeing that everyone was looking at him except for Ox. "You're not going Ox, you're too upset." He said a little bit later.

"What?" Ox said as a protest.

"You're too emotional to go out, we can not risk your feelings getting in the way and getting all of us killed."

"Why should you care!? You can't die!" Ox shouted, standing up to make himself taller than he was when he was sitting, he still barely made it to the large man's neck.

"Dish duty, Ox." Free said calmly.

"Fuck you." Ox said through gritted teeth.

"Now!" Free barked, the word echoing in the room.

"Free." Tsubaki said with a warning in her usually soft voice. "Ox, go." She stood up. Ox looked at Tsubaki then at Free and with a loud huff he stormed out of the room, grabbing a pile of bowels as he did. Black-Star was shocked to see how stern Tsubaki was, he was used to her being soft hearted and not saying much. Now she was pretty much second in command of the group. What happened to his weapon?

"Great, now we're a man short." Free muttered.

"We can take Kid and Black-Star, they're strong enough." Tsubaki said as a statement instead of an offer.

"They just got here." Free protested.

"I can go." Maka said and started to get up.

"Hell no." Soul put a hand on her shoulder and kept her down.

"You're too close to giving birth, you're staying." Free said then faced the two men. "So, are you two up to scavenge for supplies with kishin demons chasing after you?"

"You bet." Kid and Black-Star said together

* * *

What happened to sweet innocent Tsubaki? Oh wait, I know ;)

So how are you guys enjoying my serious story?


	4. The First Run

I'm really, really, really enjoying writing this story, I don't why but I love it so much! I think there's something wrong with me with how much enjoyment I'm getting from writing this terribley sad story...I blame the internet, the internet is always to blame.

Also, Mr. You-know-who-you-are, stop yelling at me, it hurts my delicate feelings...pfft, delicate my ass.

Anyways, back to the story. :)

* * *

Black-Star adjusted the strange belt he had been handed. Several long blades hung from it, each one having its own case to prevent it fromstabbing him as he walked or ran. He reached behind him and felt the sword that he had also been given, it was one of Mifune's, he knew it. Black-Star remembered the fight, when he was about to kill the man himself and a small girl got in his way, Angela. Sure she was a pain in the butt and to his groin, the unpleasant memory of Angela kicking him after he broke down a wall, played in his mind and he let out a sigh. How could they be dead? He felt like it was only yesterday that he refused to end either of their lives and some_thing _had done what he didn't.

"Black-Star?" Kid asked, wearing a similar belt but he didn't have a sword attached to his back, Tsubaki had convinced Free to allow Kid to use Liz and Patty as guns so they didn't have to worry about him running out of ammo. "Are you okay? You can stay behind if you want."

"And let you have all the fun? Please." Black-Star said with a chuckle. The star cupped Kid's chin with a hand and used the other to pull him close. "I'm not letting you go anywhere alone, I'm keeping you safe." He leaned forward and pressed their lips together. After a moment they parted and Kid lightly patted his hand on Black-Star's cheek.

"Are you sure it's me that needs to be kept safe?"

"Are you two almost ready yet?" Free's voice called and the men jumped away from each other before Free stuck his head into the door. "Kenna's almost done and then we're off, so don't go running away now." The man left after his statement.

"So...I noticed something earlier today." Kid said, rubbing his arm.

"What?" Black-Star asked while he started to leave.

"My father-in-law's name rhymes with mine." Kid said, following the star. "Sid and Kid." He added with a light chuckle. Black-Star stopped at the entrance and turned around, putting both hands up to block Kid from getting past him. Kid stood right in front of Black-Star and the star leaned forward and whispered into the shinigami's ear.

"If we weren't here I would take you here right now on the floor till you screamed my name and begged for mercy twice." Kid simply cleared his throat and lightly pushed Black-Star back.

"I don't beg nor do I scream your name." He stated softly and walked through the now open doorway.

"You did last night." Black-Star said with a smirk the shinigami could hear. Kid glared at the star as he passed him and they finally joined the rest of the group that was going to leave.

"Black-Star? I thought I was being punked." Sid stepped up to the man and hugged him. The star stiffened, not expecting the sudden contact.

"Hey Sid...it's been a while." Black-Star said awkwardly and kept his arms down.

"Sid? I thought he was your dad." Free asked. "With all of the stories of how he raised you and stupid shit like that."

"Yes, he's the man that raised me." The star stated. Sid stepped back and slapped his hand across Black-Star's head.

"The man that would have loved a letter or some form of contact." Sid said. "I would have liked to have met your wife, I was told you got married." The zombie gestured at Black-Star's ring.

"Uh...yeah."

"Chit-chat later. We have to get more batteries for the lamps or we're stuck in the dark tonight." Black-Star sent a mental thank-you to Free for preventing him from having to lie to Sid face-to-face.

"How many do we have?" Sid asked. A teenaged girl, Liz and Patty stood with the zombie and wolf. The girl had a knife belt like the others but she also had a pistol in her pocket and a backpack on her back as well.

"Seven." Free answered and everyone saw Kid flinch.

"Same old Kid." Sid chuckled. "Didn't Kilik volunteer to go?"

"He's ready if we need him." Liz said.

"Why can't I have Tsubaki?" Black-Star asked taking a bag with only one strap from the wolf. "She's my weapon."

"She has to stay." Free tossed a large backpack to Kid. "If one of us goes, the other has to stay." He slipped on his own, empty, bag.

"What?"

"We have to keep one of here in case the place gets attacked while the other is out, how difficult is that to understand?" The wolf asked.

"But why is it Tsubaki?"

"Maybe if you were here you would know." Free growled.

"I got the list." Kilik walked up to Free and handed him a sheet of folded paper.

"You're going on the run with us." Free stated as he unfolded the paper and read it. Kilik only nodded and tightened his belt, two pistols and knives hanging from it.

"You seem to have plenty of weapons." Kid noted.

"Most of the knives are kitchen ones, people tend to have at least five in each home. The guns came from the academy's vault before it got taken over and most of the pistols we found hidden under beds and dressers." Free went over to the door and before opening he faced the small group with him. "We are going to the market place first, grab as many batteries as you can find. Food, water and any form of cloth as well. We need to be prepared for the baby as well, grab anything that relates to infants; diapers, baby food, milk, toys baby's going to need something to distract itself." The wolf looked at Kid and Black-Star. "If we get attacked by the little demons, use your knives, do not fire your gun unless it is a life or death situation, we don't need to be calling attention to ourselves."

"My shots can be silent." Kid said.

"Alright then, fire away. Now to kill these things, you kill them like zombies." Free assumed that Black-Star would get the meaning. "That means-"

"Aim for the head." Kid interrupted the wolf. Black-Star had taken him over to some of his 'work buddies' homes and they had watched several zombie movies.

"You're just full of surprises." Free said sarcastically. "Well, there's not much else to say."

"Are we going to hit any houses on this run?" The girl, who Kid believed to be Kenna, asked.

"If it's still before dark, most likely. Now let's go." Free opened the door and stepped out. Liz and Patty went into gun form and landed in Kid's hands. Kid had missed the feeling of using the two twins, he felt his soul sting for a moment as it readjusted itself to Liz and Patty.

The group ran in silence across the street, they ran into an alley way and had to climb over a fence. Everyone made it over the small fence easily, Kid and Black-Star loved the feeling of adrenaline that passed through them during the run. Having to pause at the end of the alley and wait for Free's signal before making another sprint across an abandoned street. They reached a small market and Free stepped to the side to allow Sid to pass him. The zombie went to the glass door of the building and leaned against it, pressing his ear to the glass. He removed his ear and pulled out a knife. Sid slowly opened the door and leaned in, he looked back at the group and nodded.

"It's clean." Sid stated and straightened up, putting his knife back in its pouch.

"Get as much as you can." Free said and entered the building first, the rest following soon after. Liz returned to human form and took Patty, Kid wasn't sure what the girl could get since she had to return to gun form when they left, but he let the twins do as they pleased.

"Can you come with me?" Kenna asked Kid. Grabbing his wrist and dragging away without waiting for an answer. Black-Star was going to follow the two but Free called for him.

"Can I help you?" Kid rubbed his violated wrist as he asked his question.

"I just have a few questions for you I wanted to ask you in private." Kenna said and started to stuff her bag with the cans of food that sat in front of them.

"What do you want to ask that everyone else isn't going to when we get back?" Kid also begun to fill his backpack as well.

"How long have you and the blue-haired man been together?" The girl asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What...I..." Kid stuttered, how could she know? "Me and Black-Star?"

"Yes, everyone else might not see it. But I can see when two people are obviously lovers." Kenna grabbed a can and held it out towards Kid. "Do you like corn?"

"How could you possibly know that? You didn't even know our names five minutes ago." Kid hissed, not wanting to risk being overheard.

"I just know, I can feel the love you two have for each other." Kenna let out a little giggle. "Plus I have good hearing and heard the little conversation you had before entering the room. He must be a fun lover if he's willing to take the effort to make you beg twice." Kenna giggled again at Kid's light blush. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone unless I'm given permission."

"Um, thanks."

"So, are you going to answer my question?" Kenna zipped up her bag.

"Huh?"

"How long have you two been together?"

"Well...we got together a little over six years ago and we've been married for about two of them."

"That's adorable." Kenna said and threw her bag over her shoulder.

"We're moving out." Free's order stopped the two's conversation. Kid quickly closed his bag and put in on, causing him to be the last one out of the store, Black-Star right in front of him. Kid stopped at the door, holding it open, when he saw Kenna looking at something in the distance and everyone as standing still. The girl held out a arm and it turned into a bow, she slowly bent down and grabbed a pebble from the ground and it became an arrow in her other hand. Kenna placed the arrow on to her bow and a second later she released it and a soft squeal filled the air.

"Good kill Kenna." Free complimented.

"Thanks." Kid smiled at the girl when she looked over at him. "It'll fill us up for dinner tonight." She said and faced the small pig she had shot through the eye. The girl's arm returned to normal and she walked over to her kill. The group joined her at the animal and Kid stepped out of the store.

_Kid..._

The shinigami froze as the glass door shut behind him. Where did the voice come from?

_Come home Kid...we need you,..._

Kid felt something hit him and it forced him to face the burning academy and the voice got louder.

_Come and play Kid...it'll be fun..._

"Kid."

_Kid..._

"Kid!"

_Kid!_

A loud gunshot snapped him out of his trance and a dead demon laid on the ground beside him. He looked up and saw Kenna standing with a smoking gun in her hand. Everything was silent for a moment before familiar growls grew louder and louder.

"Shit, run!" Free grabbed the pig and the group took off. Kenna was soon falling behind, the shot she had made took a lot out of her, Kid had felt her soul getting weaker after firing the arrow. The shinigami watched as Liz ran ahead of him and jump the fence. Kid went over the fence aswell and heard Kenna grunt as she landed but the grunt became a scream of pain. Kid turned around and sa Kenna laying on the ground with a demon on her back. The thing took a bit into her arm before it was hit in the forehead with a silent bullet. Kid knew Liz had fired it and he ran over to the girl. He picked Kenna off the ground and put her on his shoulder, carrying her as they kept running. Kid looked back to see that the demons had stopped at the fence, the dead one being the only one that made it over. It must have ridden on Kenna's back as she climbed over. Free made it inside of the home building first and when Kid finally made it in, he could hear Tsubaki's voice counting the people as they made it into the main room.

"Four, five, six...Kenna!"

"She got bit on the arm." Kid stated.

"Free grab her, someone clear a table." Tsubaki started to throw out orders. A table filled with plates and bowels was quickly swipped clean and everyone flinched at the sound of shattering glass. Free placed a crying Kenna on the table. "We're going to have to cauterize it. Free get a torch, Wendy get some wet rags, Allen get some bandages." Kid and Black-Star watched in amazement as Tsubaki took over without any hesitation. "This is going to hurt, so bite down on this." Tsubaki put a stick into Kenna's mouth and took the flaming torch from Free and without a second thought, Tsubaki pressed the flames into Kenna's wound. The stick fell out of the girl's mouth as she screamed from pain. Tears flowed down her face as she screamed again. "Put the stick in her mouth!" Tsubaki ordered the closest person. "We do not need her biting off her tongue!" The stick was soon returned and Kid could hear the wood breaking as Kenna held back another scream. Tsubaki pulled the torch away and handed it to Free. Free put the torch out in a bucket of water and set it on a pile of wood. Tsubaki took the rag from a thin girl and cleaned up around the burnt up wound. She handed the bloody rag back and started wrapping up Kenna's arm with the bandages a large boy gave her.

"Is she going to be okay?" Maka asked from her seat.

"Yeah, she's just going to need a long nap." Tsubaki said with a small laugh. "Miriah and Jake, so me a favor and go through what they gathered."

"Yes ma'am." Two teenagers said and the girl took Black-Star's bag while the boy took Kid's.

"Tsubaki, when did you learn how to do that?" Black-Star asked.

"Nygus taught me, she can give you a few tips." Tsubaki answered.

"When did you learn to be such a badass?" The star chuckled.

"You're silly Black-Star." Black-Star saw Tsubaki's old smile with her comment. He hadn't lost his weapon, she just got tougher and he was alright with that.

"Kenna managed to kill a pig before we got attacked." Free stated.

"Looks like bacon for dinner." Soul said with a slurp, a strange sound that Kid and Black-Star found out that they had missed.

"Did you guys get my pills?" Maka asked.

"Don't worry, it as the first thing I grabbed." Kilik said and tossed a bottle to the pregnant woman.

"Where do we sleep?" Kid asked, wanting to get away from the group for a little bit. Free went over to Kenna and picked her up bridal style.

"You two are going to have to share a room." The wolf said "Follow me and I'll show you." Kid and Black-Star followed Free out of the room. The large man went into one room and set Kenna down on a bed, the girl had passed out and looked peaceful as she slept. Free closed the door behind him and gestured a hand towards the one next to Kenna's room. "You two aren't going to kill each other if you share a room, are you?" He asked.

"We'll be fine." Kid said with a straight face, not trusting Black-Star to say anything. Free didn't say anything else and walked off.

"He looked kind of pissed." Black-Star said as he and Kid entered the room they would be sharing.

"He always looks pissed." Kid responded and plopped himself down on the bed. The room was about the same size as the one at their old house but it was less furnished. It held only the bed, a closet and a lamp that sat on a small dresser.

"Cozy." Black-Star said.

"At least there's a bed." Kid sighed. Black-Star let out a chuckle and soon Kid found himself pinned to the bed. "Get off." Kid used his feet to push the star away. "We are in a house filled with people."

"But I made a promise earlier." The star smirked. "I have to make you beg-" Black-Star gave Kid a kiss. "-twice."

"Not happening. We are going to eat then going to sleep. Nothing is going to occur in-between." Kid stated. A knock at the door prevented Black-Star from answering.

"Dinner's done if you're hungry." Soul's voice said behind the door.

"Coming." Kid called.

The two joined the large group as they were served a pork stew in bowels that hadn't been shattered that day. They watched and listened to the conversations that were shared, throwing their own comments every now and then, but trying to keep the attention away from themselves. It was hard for Black-Star to do so. He would usually have Kid's full attention and that tended to be enough, but Kid spent the whole time either thinking or avoiding a question from someone. Kid hadn't seen Free staring at him for most of the meal and the wolf only looked away when Tsubaki addressed him. Kid and Black-Star went back to the room when they had finished and after a few words and a couple of kisses to get the star to shut up, they eventually drifted off into sleep. The next day holding mysteries for them.

* * *

Longest chapter so far.

Poor Kenna, I kind of like her character.


	5. What Used To Be

I have new followers! *Claps like the special person I am.* People like my story, they really like it!

* * *

Kid's eyes opened when he thought he heard the sound of the door being opened. He waited and when he was sure that no one had entered the shinigami let out a soft sigh and pressed his back against Black-Star's. Kid closed his eyes back up and smiled at the warmth from the other man. He wasn't warm for long. Kid let out a small yelp as someone grabbed his arm and yanked him out of bed, a hand covering his mouth to prevent him from shouting out for the star.

"It's just me." The whisper in KId's ear made the shinigami shiver. "Don't scream." Free ordered. Kid's answer of 'okay' was muffled by the wolf's hand and he allowed himself to be dragged out of the room. Kid soon found himself sitting on one of the benches in the main room.

"What the hell?" Kid cursed after shoving Free's hand off and the hand went right back over his mouth.

"We don't need to wake everyone else up." Free stated and pulled his hand away.

"What do you want?" Kid demanded in a quite hiss.

"You're the shinigami, the child of Lord Death." Free said as a statement.

"Don't mention him." Kid growled.

"I don't care about your daddy issues. I do care about why you froze in front of the market."

"That's none of your concern." The shinigami grunted when Free pushed him up against the wall, one hand on his neck and the other pressing hard on his stomach.

"It is. I am in charge of these people and I'm not letting some spoiled brat get them all killed." Free growled. Kid gasped as a response, not able to breathe properly. "Kenna is hurt because you choked during your first run. Now tell me. Why. Did. You. Stop?" The wolf pressed harder with each word and Kid let out a strangled cry.

"Can't...breathe..." Free released Kid and the shinigami fell to his knees, holding his neck and gulping down air.

"Maybe I'll ask the blue-haired man." Free turned around. Kid took in one more gasp before anger surged through him. The shinigami jumped to his feet and grabbed Free by the back of the shirt. He let out a grunt as he pulled the larger man back and slammed Free against the wall, chest pressed against the cold surface.

"Leave him alone." Kid said and pulled harder on the arm he held captive.

"Why are you protecting him?" Free asked before pushing his other arm against the wall. Shoving Kid back and forcing the shinigami to let go of his arm. "He's a grown man,he can take care of himself." Free swung out an arm and Kid caught it. His feet slid against the ground for a moment before he yanked down and kneed the wolf's nose. Free let out a curse before turning around and punching Kid across the jaw. The shinigami fell to the ground, he glared up at Free and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"You hit like a bitch." Kid said before leaping off the ground and slamming his shoulder into Free's chest. The wolf gasped for a breath before grabbing Kid and throwing him against the wall. Kid dodged to the side as a fist punched the wall where his head had been at.

"Why are you fighting for him? If I recall from the stories from the others, you two fought almost everyday over the dumbest things." Free stated. Kid didn't respond and tackled the larger man again. Catching Free off guard, the wolf tripped over and ended with his back against the ground. Kid managed two punched to Free's face before he was flipped over and his hands were pinned to the ground. "What is it between you two!?" Free demanded, his voice echoing in the empty room. Kid stayed silent and breathed heavily, not having a good fight in a long time had caused him to become breathless. Free felt something digging into his hand, he pulled one of his hands away and saw a small star had been pressed into his skin from Kid's ring. "A star? That blue-haired man is named...Black-Star...a member of the extinct star clan..."

"What is going on?" A anger-filled voice asked above the two men. Free looked up and saw Black-Star standing with his hands clenched into fists.

"Don't get your panties in a twist." Free said and got off Kid. "We were in a fight if you can't tell by the blood. You don't have to worry about me messing with your partner." The wolf let out a harsh laugh. "That explains a lot. I don't care what you do who you do in bed, just don't let it get in the way."

"What are you talking about?" Kid asked, getting himself off the ground.

"You got distracted on the run didn't you? You were thinking about him, weren't you?" Free pointed a finger towards Black-Star. "You can not allow your emotions to get in the way or we are all going to end up dead."

"Is everything okay-Kid you're bleeding!" Tsubaki went over to the shinigami and looked at the scrap on his cheek he had gotten from Free throwing him against the wall.

"I'm fine, I'll heal." Kid said.

"What happened? Why are you bleeding as well Free?" Tsubaki asked, pulling a rag out of her pocket and dabbing at the wolf's bleeding nose.

"Just an argument between men." Free growled.

"You woke up half of the apartment, that was not just 'an argument between men'." Tsubaki stated and stopped cleaning Free's face. "You two, in the kitchen now so we can get you cleaned up properly. Black-Star, go calm down the others, tell them everything is okay." The three men hesitated. "Now." She snapped. Black-Star ran off and him shouting 'We're all good' could be heard by Free and Kid as they were ushered to the kitchen. Tsubaki set the men next to each other on a table and dunked her rag into a bucket of water. "Now tell me the truth, what happened?" She asked as she dabbed at Free's nose again with the piece of cloth.

"We just got into an argument and it became violent." Free said, leaning away from the rag.

"Bullshit." Tsubaki's curse made Kid shake his head in shock, did she really just say that? Tsubaki rolled her eyes and pinched the wolf's nose with the cloth. "Hold that there." She ordered and Free obeyed with several grumbles. "Kid, what happened?" Tsubaki asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"What Free said. An argument that became violent." Kid answered.

"What could the argument be about that you would risk injuring yourself or another person?" The question was directed at Free.

"The boy froze and got Kenna hurt from it." Free said, voice clogged from the pressure on his nose.

"I am not a boy, I am twenty-two years old." Kid protested.

"You are still a child compared to me." Free growled.

"Both of you are acting like children. Fighting over a stupid mistake will end up making another stupid mistake." Both of the men looked down at the ground. Tsubaki walked over to the bucket and grabbed a new rag and soaked it in water as well. "You two can be in charge of breakfast." She said and rubbed the towel on Kid's scraped cheek. "Then you can clean some bowels." Free opened his mouth to protest, but Tsubaki's glare made him stop. "I'll be right back, get into another argument and you wish you had cooking and dish duty." Tsubaki walked out of the kitchen, throwing the rag she had used on Kid on to a pile of other bloody rags.

"Wife my ass." Free muttered, removing the rag from his nose and sniffing. "You look like a queer." The wolf didn't have time to say anything else before Kid punched him across the face.

"Even if Black-Star was a woman, I'd still be with him." Kid said and jumped off the table, going over to a large pyramid of canned food. "Gender doesn't mean anything." The shinigami grabbed a can of corn and a wave of guilt hit him.

"Little sensitive, aren't we?" Free chuckled and finished cleaning up his nose.

"You would be too if you were in my spot." Kid took one of the can openers that laid beside the cans and started to open the can of corn.

"You ran away and lived a fun life while everyone else suffered through a war, how bad could it be?" Free asked, joining Kid in opening cans and dumping the contents into a large pot.

"We didn't run away...my father kicked us out because he didn't approve of me and Black-Star." Kid said darkly, crushing the empty can in his hand.

"I've talked to Lord Death, he doesn't seem like the person to do that."

"Apparently he is, just like every other idiotic, homophobic person out there that would just take the time to understand that what I do in my bedroom won't hurt them. I bet my father is ranting about how his gay son is going to ruin everything and he's going to get everyone killed..." Kid took in several breaths. "You already said it, why wouldn't he?"

"Kid, your father-"

"How are we doing?" Tsubaki asked, already sounding like as if her anger from earlier had never happened. "Are we having a vegetable stew for breakfast?" She asked, seeing the corn and potatoes in the pot. "Put some left over pork into it."

"Am I still on dish duty?" Ox asked, standing at the entrance.

"You're good, Free and Kid will be taking care of that today."

"But I was going to go on a run to get into that hardware store we've been spotting for a week." Free protested.

"I can handle that." Tsubaki said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"But-"

"I'll get the fire started for you two." Tsubaki said, dismissing any more protest from Free. "Come on Ox, you can help me." Ox followed Tsubaki out of the room.

"I heard someone got into some trouble." A voice sang a moment later and the two men were soon joined by Kenna.

"How's your arm?" Kid asked as Kenna sat on the table they were just on.

"Stings like a bitch, but I'll get over it." The girl laughed, rolling the arm that had been cleaned only minutes ago.

"You should still be in bed." Free said.

"And miss all the fun? I wanna go out on the hardware store run." Kenna said with extreme excitement.

"Absolutely not, you are injured." Tsubaki said, returning to the kitchen.

"I'm fine, look. I can still run." Kenna jumped off the table but before she could take off, Tsubaki caught her arm.

"You are to stay here and watch Maka. Soul needs help to keep her from leaving the building."

"But that's boring." Kenna whined.

"You can ask her about the DWMA."

"Really?" Tsubaki nodded at the younger girl and Kenna ran off. Tsubaki pointed at the pot and gestured for the men to follow her. Free and Kid set the pot on the burning fire, sitting next to it so they could stir it.

"Could you tell me about the DWMA?" Kenna asked Maka and the chattering group went silent.

"The DWMA?" Maka straightened herself up.

"Yeah, I was only told I was going to join it four years ago, but the demons were released and I never learned anything but the word DWMA." Kenna said.

"That's right, you're fifteen. A decent age to start the true training." Maka stated.

"Go ahead, she and the others have a right to know." Soul encouraged.

"The DWMA stands for, Death Weapon Meister Academy." Maka started and the group, most who already know the story, listened to Maka's retelling. "You're a bow and arrow, a weapon. When you would have joined, a meister, someone that could use you as your full weapon form, would have been assigned to you. Weather it be a boy or girl, just whoever matched your soul wavelength then you spend years training and learning about kishins and how to kill them. A kishin is someone that had surrendered to the madness and eats innocent souls, like the ones we have. The person who put the academy, that large building that's burning, is Lord Death, Kid's father." Kid looked away from the group and Free stirred the pot. "He's a great person and he's always willing to help a student. You could call him from any mirror or window the numbers-"

"Forty-two, forty-two, five six four." The old members of DWMA said with Maka.

"He'd greet with with a hi, hello and a howdy. He's a silly person, but is the lord of death so don't piss him off." The group laughed. Kid stayed silent and helped Free serve the stew. "If you do, run like hell ." Another group laugh. "You'd train and learn so then one day you could turn your weapon into a death-scythe."

"A what?" Kenna cocked her head.

"After collecting ninety-nine kishen souls and one witch soul, your weapon will gain extreme strength and be a death-scythe."

"That sounds awesome!" Kenna exclaimed.

"Yeah..." Maka held on to Soul's hand. "Maybe after we get through this nightmare, we can put the DWMA back together."

"Sounds like a plan." Soul responded, squeezing his meister's hand. Maka let out a groan and put a hand on her stomach. "Oh God is the baby coming!? What do we do!? Tsubaki!"

"Calm down you nut-job, the baby just kicked hard, that's all." Maka chuckled. "I still have two months, don't worry."

"Nice to know how calm Soul is going to be when her water actually does break." Kilik said and the group laughed together again. Kid only smiled a little and sat next to Black-Star after he and Free were able to get their own bowels of food.

"So what are you going to name the little..." Black-Star's sentence trailed.

"Guy." Kid said, taking a sip from his bowel.

"How coul you know that?" Soul asked.

"I can see the baby's soul, it's a boy. Maka should know that as well."

"I wanted it to be a surprise you asshole." Maka said with a laugh.

"My bad." Kid said and winked at the pregnant woman.

"So after we eat, I need a group to go on a run with me. We're hitting the hardware store across town." Tsubaki stated, standing up and setting her bowel on the cleaned counter, the shattered pieces still haven't been swept up. "I'm going."

"You can't go." Free said, standing as well.

"Yes I am, you are staying here and doing dish duty."

"You know nothing about the hardware store."

"I know enough to break into it and cleaning it out." Tsubaki's last word came out harsh and the two stared at each other for a tense minute.

"Fine, but don't come crying to me when everyone's dead or you return with nothing." Free growled.

"Talia, Bre, Max, Ox, Soul."

"I can't go, what about Maka?" The scythe protested.

"She'll be fine, I put Kenna in charge of her and we'll be back before her afternoon craving kicks in." Tsubaki smirked at the middle finger response she got from Maka.

"I'll also take Black-Star and..." Tsubaki looked around the room. "Kid."

"What!?" Free exclaimed. "Why the hell is he going!?" He demanded.

"With you staying, I need someone else to break open the door." Tsubaki stated. Free let out a growl and left the room. "Don't forget to clean." She called after the wolf. "Hurry up and finish leaving, we leave in ten."

* * *

I love my badass Tsubaki. I want to hug her but I feel like I'd get killed.


	6. Arms Of An Angel

I'm doing good with my updating, a chapter everyday or every other day...I feel like it's not going to last long...

* * *

Kid felt like he had just removed the knife filled belt and now it was back on around his hips. He also didn't like that he was unable to use Liz and Patty as his guns, Tsubaki had told Liz to make sure that Kenna didn't run off and Patty couldn't leave without her rule made sence, but it didn't mean that Kid was the biggest fan of using knives for a weapon.

"Kid, we're leaving." A woman who seemed to be as large as Black-Star said, her arms crossed over her broad chest.

"Don't I know you?" Kid asked, getting a better view of the woman's face.

"Talia Ludwing, I used to be in your class at the DWMA. I sat in the back with my meister Quin, we didn't say much. We didn't want to call attention to us and we couldn't if we wanted to, we were no child of Lord Death." Talia stated, un-crossing her arms and putting her hands on her hips.

"Where is Quin?" Kid said before he could stop himself.

"She's dead, killed by one of the demon kishins before I could save her..." Talia dug her fingers into her hips and looked down, as if she was trying to keep herself in control.

"I'm sorry."

"No you're not!" Talia snapped. "You weren't there, you haven't lost someone you love...nevermind." Talia shook her head. Kid assumed she was thinking about his dead 'wife', maybe he should just tell everyone the truth and get that out of their heads before they discover it on their own. He gave himself a mental note to talk to Black-Star the next time they were alone together.

"It's okay, let's just worry about getting through this run. Let's make them proud." Kid said with a smile, putting a hand on the woman's shoulder.

"Yeah." Talia sniffed and turned away.

"Talia." Kid said softly to himself as he followed the woman, digging into his memory and trying to find something about her besides what she had said.

"There you two are." Tsubaki said with the rest of the group standing with her. "We all know the plan, right?" She received a nod from the seven adults. "Let's go."

Tsubaki lead the group out of the building and they went the same way they had taken to get to the market. Kid hesitated at the fence, thinking of Kenna's scream before he was told to hurry up by an impatient Bre, who stood behind him. Kid took in a breath and climbed over, Bre landing right behind him. Tsubaki did a head count before taking off again, the silence between the group still felt strange to Kid as they ducked behind walls or abandoned cars, looking for the killer kishins. Only the sound of their shoes crushing into the gravel at some points passed in the group until they finally reached their destination.

"Ox, Soul; keep a look out. Talia, do your thing." Talia gave Tsubaki a thumbs up and kneeled beside the alarm system, pulling a screwdriver from her pocket and started playing with it. "After she gets done, I need you to kick open the door Kid. The previous owners had boarded up the place before they...left."

""We're all good." Talia said, returning the screwdriver to her pocket. Kid didn't wait for Tsubaki to say anything and he kicked in the doors, shards of wood flying into the building.

"Max, collect some of the wood pieces. Everyone else grab everything that you can." Tsubaki went in first, heading straight for the power tools. Kid and Black-Star went through the shelves, stuffing hammers, nails, screws and other tools into their bags. They also put sandpaper, goggles and rags into the backpacks. Talia went to the counter and put something called 'five hour energy' into her bag along with some candy that sat on the counter as well. "How are you doing?" Tsubaki asked, her bag already filled and on her back,

"Just finishing up." Kid responded and shoved several more rags into his bag before zipping it up. Black-Star closed his bag as well and put it on his back. Kid was doing the same when a familiar sent filled his nose. Smoke. Cigarette smoke. Stein?

"Max, is this really an appropriate time for a smoke?" Bre's voice answered Kid's question.

"Sorry, couldn't help myself." Kid heard the cigarette drop and Max's foot crushing the thing.

"Stein." Kid said. "Where's Stein?" He asked Tsubaki.

"He ran off." Was the response Kid could get before everyone froze. They heard clawing above them and the horrible sound of growls as well. "They're in the vents..." Tsubaki looked up. " They're in the vents!" She said louder before part of the ceiling broke and several kishin demons fell through. Max and Bre let out a scream as more kishin demons fell out of the ceiling in front of them.

"Run!" Kid shouted at the two. Another scream caused the shinigami to turn. Talia sat on the counter, swipping kishin demons away with her filled bag, her belt laying on the ground. "Turn to a weapon Talia!" Kid ordered the woman. Talia hesitated. "Do it!" Kid used one of the demons as a launch pad, catching Talia when she finally turned. The shinigami felt his soul jerk as it connected itself to the weapon in his hands. A double-bladed axe, the weapon was almost as tall as Kid and the blades were bigger than his head.

"How!?" Talia asked.

"I'm a shinigami." Kid stated before swinging the axe in front of himself, slicing kishins across the face.

"Kid!" Black-Star shouted at the entrance. Kid lashed out one more time before jumping off the counter and slamming the axe into the ground and flipping himself over the rest of the kishins. The axe stayed in his hands as it pulled out of the ground and Kid landed on his feet.

"Where's Bre and Max!?" Tsubaki shouted over the sounds of the kishins.

"Help!" Max cried, dragging Bre in his arms.

"Bre!" Talia returned to her human shape and ran over to the two.

"We need to go now!" Tsubaki said, the kishins finally realizing what had happened. Talia threw the smaller woman over her shoulder and the group took off, kishins following them. Kid didn't like this, both times he's been on a run, it's ended with someone injured and them running from the kishin stayed in the back and Kid could hear the woman firing her gun multiple times. Ox, Soul, Max and Black-Star made it over the fence and Talia stopped, not able to climb over the fence with Bre over her shoulder.

"Give me her." Kid said and took Bre, knowing he could do it and he did. He heard Bre cry out with pain after he landed. Talia and Tsubaki's grunts wer behind him as he ran to the apartment. This was Kid's second time entering the building with a hurt girl on his shoulder, he hated this. He felt his shoulder getting soaked in what he assumed was blood and he had a bad feeling in his chest. This was worse than Kenna' bitten arm, a lot worse.

"Again!?" Free exclaimed and dropped the bowels in his hands. Kid flinched at the sound of the bowels shattering, why was he hearing this again? The table had already been cleaned up by the time Kid placed Bre on it. He dropped his bag to the ground as Tsubaki ran over to the girl and removed the woman's jacket. Bre was covered in bite marks and large gashes. Tsubaki stood there and starred, everyone silent.

"She's...gone." Tsubaki shook her head and covered his face with her hands.

"Bre!" Kenna pushed herself through the crowd and grabbed the dead woman's hand. "Don't you dare be dead, don't you dare!" She screamed. "Bre!"

"Kenna..." Talia went over to the girl and wrapped her arms around her. Kenna let out harsh sobs as she cried.

"She can't be dead, she can't!" Kenna gasped for air, her face soaked in tears.

"Kenna and Bre are sisters." Maka said to Kid, answering his silent question. Kid looked around and found Liz and Patty crying as well, they must have been friends with Bre, several other woman and girls were crying and even some men and boys were as well. This was horrible. His second day here and someone had already been injured and killed. Kid felt as if everything was his fault. He caused all of this by leaving and then showing up too late. Everyone was too busy watched Kenna cry loudly over her sister to notice Kid slipping away, snatching one of Max's packs of cigarettes and walk out of the house.

"Kid climbed up the side of the building to the roof, reminding himself to look for the stairs that lead up there. He sat himself on the ledge of the building, his feet dangling over the edge. He saw that the kishins had left the fence and there weren't other ones on the other side. Why didn't they climb over the fence? Was something preventing them from being able to do so? If so, what was it? Kid pulled out one of the cigarettes and set the pack next to him. He reached into his other pocket for a box of matches he had taken from the hardware store and scraped a match against the side of the box, the small stick catching on fire. The shinigami put the cigarette between his lips and used the match to lite the cigarette.

"You know that's not healthy for you."

"You do it." Kid said through a cloud of smoke.

"And there's the snappy comeback." Kid heard the person joining him on the ledge and the person took the pack and grabbed a cigarette for himself.

"Why aren't you with the others? They miss you, Stein."

"I don't want to risk me hurting them." Stein stated, putting a cigarette in his mouth. He reached into the front of his sweater and pulled out a lighter.

"Someone died today." Kid said, watching Stein take a deep drag from his cigarette.

"I know." The scientist responded.

"Why wouldn't you?"

"I tried to save her, but there were too many kishin demons."

"There's a lot of madness coming from the academy." Kid watched his cigarette slowly burn to a stick of ash.

"That's why I'm staying away, the madness is digging itself into me and I'm not going to last much longer." Kid noticed that Stein had more stitches covering his body than before, too many to be healthy.

"You're not allowed to die." Kid said.

"Well, I am. Maybe not today and maybe not even tomorrow, but I am and I need to make sure it doesn't get me when I do." Stein took the rest of his cigarette and smashed it into the ledge next to him. "You should visit your father." He stated and stood up.

"He's fine without me."

"You don.'t know, do you?"

"Know what?"

"You'll find out for yourself...I have to go."

"Stein!" Kid shouted at his old teacher as the man took off and jumped to the roof of the building next to them. Stein kept going until Kid couldn't see him anymore.

"There you are Kid, I've been looking for you." Black-Star walked on to the roof through a door that stuck out of the ground. "Are you smoking?" The star asked, smelling the smoke and seeing the cigarette in Kid's hand.

"Kind of." Kid flicked the ash off the tip and was about to put the cigarette back in his mouth but Black-Star stopped his hand and removed the cigarette from it.

"I've always hated the smell of these things." The star commented and put the cigarette out on the ledge like Stein had.

"How's Kenna?" Kid asked.

"She finally calmed down, but she locked herself up in her room." Black-Star stated.

"Poor girl." Kid got up and started walking away. He stopped when he heard the star following him. "Black-Star..." The shinigami turned around and faced the other man. "You're not allowed to die." He said.

"Kid?"

"I don't want to lose you, I don't know what I would do if you died-" Kid 's voice cracked and the shinigami coughed into his hand to clear his throat. Before he could say any more Black-Star stepped up to Kid, grabbed his shoulders and pressed their lips together.

"You don't need to worry about me." Black-Star said on Kid's lips and closed the space between them again.

"I know." Kid sighed. "We should probably go back before anyone worries." He said breathless.

"One more." Black-Star didn't wait for a response and kissed Kid again, missing being able to do this whenever he wanted to.

"Black-Star." Kid protested when the kiss traveled down to his neck. "We have to go-" The shinigami gasped when the star nipped at a sensitive spot on his neck.

"Kid, Black-Star,where are you?" Tsubaki's voice interrupted the two, the worry in her voice made them seperate from each other and go back inside. "Next time tell someone when you run off like that." Tsubaki said after finding them.

"Sorry, I needed some air." Kid said with an apologetic smile.

"We're about to start Bre's funeral, go grab a candle." Tsubaki walked off without another word.

Kid and Black-Star followed Tsubaki and grabbed themselves one of the small candles everyone else was getting. They stayed silent with the others as they traveled outside through the back door and they found themselves standing in a large backyard with many small stones sticking out of the ground. Graves. Kid felt his heart lurch at how many graves there were compared to how many people were still watched and mimicked the group as the became a circle around a large pile of wood, most of them looking as if they had already been burned before. Tsubaki stepped out from her spot of the circle.

"Today we are honoring the short life of Brianna Hope Anderson." Tsubaki said, loud enough to be heard by everyone. "She was a strong woman, sister of Kenna, mother of the already gone Anna and friend to many of us. Bre acted like as if she never cared for anyone but when someone was hurt, she would be the first to volunteer to help. When Kenna was bit, she was out here, cleaning the weeds from her daughters grave. When she learned what happened to Kenna, she stayed awake all night next to her sleeping sister. She cared for all of us deeply, even if she didn't show it all the time. We raise our candles to you Bre." Tsubaki held up her hands, a candle in them.

"We raise our candles to you." The group repeated and raised their candles as well. Kid and Black-Star put their candles up, trying to keep up with the ceremony.

"You may be gone in body, but you will always be with us in heart." Tsubaki pulled out a lighter and lit her candle. She went back to her spot and used her candle to lit the candle of the person's next to her. The other person did the same and the candle lighting went in a full circle, Kid and Black-Star catching on to this part easily. A part of the circle seperated and Free walked through it, a patched up Bre in his arms and Kenna following him with an already flaming candle. Free gently set Bre down on top of the gasoline soaked wood, crossing her arms over her stomach, one hand resting on the wolf stepped away and Kenna went in front of him.

"I love you Bre. I will always love you." Kenna choked out. "I hope you've found Anna and you two are happy, no more pain, no more sorrow...good-bye Bre." Kenna pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and set it on fire with her candle. She tossed the paper into the pile of wood and flames soon engulfed Bre.

"Spend all your time waiting, for that second chance." Maka started singing, throwing Kid and Black-Star off.

"For a break that would make it okay." Soul joined her.

"There's always some reason, to not feel good enough." Several others began to sing as well.

"And it's hard at the end of the day. I need some distraction." More people sang.

"Oh beautiful release, memories seep from my veins." Kenna joined in.

"Let me be empty and weightless and maybe." Everyone but Kid and Black-Star were singing.

"I'll find some peace tonight." Kid looked at Black-Star as he sang and Kid took in a breath and finally everyone in the group was singing.

"In the arms of an angel, fly away from here." Kid couldn't believe this, this was all too real. "From this dark, cold, hotel room." Two days, it had only been two days and they were already mourning the loss of someone he barely even knew. "And the endlessness that you fear." Tsubaki set her candle down on the ground and grabbed the hands of the two people next to her. "You are pulled from the wreckage." Kid watched as the two people Tsubaki was holding hands with, set their candles down and took their other hand into the person's hand of their neighbor. "Of your silent reverie." The circle continued and soon Kid and Black-Star had to set their candles down and were holding hands with each other and the person that stood on their other side. "You're in the arms of the angel." Kid felt Black-Star rub his thumb lightly over his hand. "May you find some comfort here." The next and final verse was sang by Kenna who shook as she belted out the notes, she had a beautiful singing voice. The group joined in agin as they sang the chorus of the song, holding the very last note as long as they could. Kenna beating everyone by several beats before she collapsed in to her knees and cried into her looked at everyone, almost not a single person had dry eyes in the circle. His grip tightened on Black-Star's hand. This is what they all have been going through for years while he and Black-Star lived a normal life. That wasn't fair, that wasn't fair at all.

* * *

I'm listening to the song while I'm writing this...oh God I'm crying! All of these feels!


	7. Normal Basketball

I'm still crying from the previous chapter. And I haven't even gotten to the worse parts yet.

* * *

Kid wrapped an arm around Kenna as she cried on his shoulder, she wasn't sobbing loudly anymore, but her tears soaked the shinigami's shoulder. The blood on his other shoulder wasn't even dried up all the way. Soul had dug a hole in the ground next to a stone that had Anna carved into it and Free was collecting Bre's ashes and putting them into a large bowel. Black-Star had been asked to carve Bre's name into a new stone and everyone else was inside getting lunch ready. The day was only halfway done and Kid was already exhausted. After the ashes were covered and buried, the rest of them went back inside and took their plates of pig in silence like everyone else.

"The pig's gone, we're going to need more meat soon." Tsubaki said quietly to Free. "We have plenty of vegetables and fruit, but we could always get more."

"I can go hunting later." Free responded.

"No." Tsubaki snapped, loud enough for the silent group to snap out of their daze. "Not today, please."

"Fine, but I'm leaving first thing tomorrow."

"Thank you." The group went back to silence and only chewing and the ripping of meat could be heard. Kid couldn't stomach anything after eating several bites. He gave the rest of his food to a young boy that was near him and he went to the room Black-Star and himself shared. Kid knew someone was following him, he assumed it was Black-Star and he didn't bother looking back or taking more effort to truly discover who the person was. He walked into the room, leaving the door open behind him and when the click of the door being shut rang in his ear, he turned around as he slipped off his shirt.

"Black-Star I'm f-" Kid stopped when he saw that the person following him hadn't been Black-Star. "What do you want Kenna?" The shinigami asked, grabbing a shirt and putting it on before sitting himself down on the bed.

"You're a lot like my dad, before he ran off." Kenna sat down next to Kid. "He left us when I was only five but I can remember everything about him." The girl leaned her head against the man's shoulder. "He was so nice to me and Bre. He'd take the effort to make sure that we were okay, even with Bre being from another father, he didn't care, he loved us. He had black hair like you, minus the stripes of course and his eyes were blue as well. Other than that you look just like him and even act like him sometimes..." Kenna raised a hand and wiped her eye, she had already shed enough tears for one day.

"Your dad could still be out there, waiting for his little girl to find him." Kid put a hand on Kenna's back and started to rub it, feeling her shoulder blades sticking out farther than they should.

"He's dead, I found his body two years ago while a group of kishin demons were eating him." Kid felt Kenna stiffen from the memory. "I found my mother the next day...hanging from a tree with a note in her hand that said she loved us...but she couldn't deal with this world anymore..." Kenna held back a sob. Kid felt a wave of guilt go through him, he thought he was having a hard time with this place. But his friends, his very close ones, were still alive, his father was still alive, even if he wasn't very happy with him and he still had Black-Star. Kenna just lost her sister today, she found her mother hanging after seeing her father being eaten by kishins. He's had an easy life compared to Kenna and she was only fifteen, too young for any of this. "At least I'm not alone." Kenna curled her feet up and wrapped her arms around the shinigami's stomach. Kid froze for a moment, hands in the air. When Kenna had started crying again, he relaxed and continued rubbing the girl's back, his other hand on the bed to keep them up.

"I won't leave you." Kid said softly, knowing he was saying that to more than one person. He was promising everyone that sat in the other room.

Kid was too busy with Kenna to notice that Liz was standing at the doorway, seeing her meister comforting a girl about his age when he ran off. Liz lightly knocked on the door before walking in.

"Hey Kid. Tsubaki sent me to make sure you two were alright and to tell you that there isn't a planned dinner tonight, to just eat if you get hungry."

"Thanks Liz." Kid said, still looking down at Kenna.

"Patty missed you." Liz said suddenly. "She wouldn't stop crying for weeks after you and Black-Star ran away, then she went silent for even longer, we were scared for her. She wouldn't eat or sleep, she'd just sit at the window, looking for you Kid. You really hurt her and you still haven't apologized for leaving her."

"I didn't leave-" Liz had walked away before Kid could finish. "-you." Kid sat there and thought, he thought about everything Liz and Patty must have gone through when he left and what the war had done to them as well, he felt terrible. Why was this happening? Why can't they go back to the days of basketball after class?

Kenna eventually fell asleep and Kid gently took the girl off of him and laid her on the bed, covering her small body with the blanket. He brushed away Kenna's bangs out of her face before walking away, looking for his weapons.

"When's Bre coming back?" A little boy, no older than ten, asked. He sat on the lap of Patty, playing with the string of her hoodie. Patty didn't answer the boy, instead she set him down on the ground and told him to play with the other child of the group, his twin and the two boys ran off in search of their mother.

"Hi Patty." Kid said, joining the woman on the bench she sat on. The main room was almost empty except for himself, Patty, Black-Star and Liz who walked in the room a moment later.

"What do you want?" Patty asked.

"I want to talk to Patty." He said.

"She's dead, like most of Death City, she's gone like the DWMA." Patty gripped the bench and glared at Kid. "She left, like you." She snapped, eyes filled with tears threatening to fall.

"Patty, I didn't leave you."

"But you did, you didn't even say good-bye!" Patty cried.

"I came back." Kid protested.

"Five years later, when I thought you were gone forever!" Patty finally allowed her tears to fall down her face. "I kept waiting for you Kid, I kept telling everyone 'Kiddo will be back, he always comes back, why would he leave us? He loves us'. But you never came back. You never sent a letteror a phone call or anything and I thought you were dead. It was back to just me and Liz again. The Thompson sisters...we were no longer the Kid trio...It was just like when mom and dad left!" Patty got up to leave, but Kid caught her shoulder and turned the woman to face him.

"Patty, I'm sorry. Don't you think it killed me to leave you guys behind, you're my family and I'm an asshole for running away like that."

"Yeah you are." Liz said and Patty hugged the shinigami.

"Promise me you'll never run off again." Patty said, removing her arms.

"Or if you do, tell us." Liz added, resting a hand on her younger sister's shoulder. "It hurt all of us."

"I can't deal with all of this seriousness anymore." Black-Star sighed.

"Welcome to our lives." Soul said as he and Maka entered the room.

"We need to do something fun." The star said and got up.

"What are you doing?" Kid asked, seeing Black-Star throw open a door and walk in.

"What do we keep in there?" Patty asked Liz.

"I don't remember." Liz answered truthfully.

"This is awesome!" Black-Star's cheer made the group flinch.

"How are you guys doing?" Tsubaki joined the six in the room.

"We're playing basketball." Black-Star stepped out of the closet with a ball in one hand and a hoop in the other.

"It's been years since I've played basketball." Tsubaki said.

"Let's do it. Me, Patty and you against Kid, Soul and Liz. Maka can be the referee."

"I don't know..."

"Come on Tsubaki, please?" Tsubaki found herself getting the 'puppy-dog eye' treatment from Patty and Black-Star.

"Fine."

"Yay!" Patty giggled and ran off for a moment, soon returning with a box of nails and a hammer. "We can go to the roof."

"It'll be the seven of us again." Maka said with a smile. The group shared a look before they all took off, up the steps and ended up on the roof in seconds. Maka sat on the ledge and had a hard time breathing. "This baby is taking my ability to move." She groaned. "I have to deal with two more months of this shit?" She asked.

"And then you give birth." Kid said.

"Soul, hit him for me." Soul gave his partner a thumbs up and punched Kid's arm, knowing it wouldn't hurt the other man.

"Let's play ball!" Black-Star cheered, sitting on top of the door that stuck out of the roof and the hoop was attached to the side.

"We have to set up the rules first." Maka stated, moving herself forward so she could lean back some more. "Same rules as before but when the possession of the ball changes you have to go to the opposite sie of the roof before you can make a shot."

"Easy enough." Black-Star said and hopped off the door. The star picked up the ball from the ground and stood in front of Kid. Soul and Liz were behind Kid while Tsubaki and Patty stood behind Black-Star. "Ready to lose?" Black-Star asked and passed the ball to the shinigami.

"I should be asking you that." Kid chuckled and passed the ball back.

"We'll just see." When Kid got the ball for the second time, he quickly passed it to Liz and pushed past the star. Tsubaki went in front of Liz and held her hands out as Patty followed Soul and blocked him. The scythe managed to get away from Patty long enough for Liz to throw it to him and he caught it. He turned around and shot the ball, it made it in the hoop without touching the rim.

"Looks like I'm not as rusty as I thought." Soul chuckled.

"Lucky shot." Black-Star scoffed and dribbled the ball as he went to the other side of the roof.

"Like you could do better." Soul said and stood in front of the star. Black-Star stopped dribbling and shot the ball without a second thought. The ball bounced on the rim before going in. "Shut-up." Soul said to Black-Star's smirk.

"Two to two." Maka said from the sidelines. The scythe stepped out of the way and allowed Tsubaki to walk by him and she and Black-Star traded spots. Before Black-Star was even ready, Tsubaki threw the ball over the star's head and Liz caught it. The older twin took several steps and bounced the ball towards Kid. The shinigami was about to get it when Patty cut him off and she tossed the ball to Black-Star. Black-Star dribbled the ball a couple times and Soul took the ball away from him, shoving his shoulder in the star's chest and knocking him over. "That's a foul shot." Maka said as Black-Star got back up.

"That's not a foul, this is a foul." The scythe punched the star across the face without a warning.

"Soul!" Both Maka and Kid snapped.

"It's okay." Black-Star chuckled, rubbing his jaw. "I deserved it. Next time though." Black-Star took the ball from the scythe. "I'm hitting back." Black-Star threw the ball and it went in the hoop. "There's the foul shot."

"Two to three." Maka sighed, knowing that she would never understand men. Liz caught the ball from under the net and ran over to the other side of the roof before passing it to Tsubaki. Tsubaki took a step to throw the ball back since Kid was completely covered by Black-Star.

"What in the world is going on up here?" A low voice interrupted the game.

"Can I join?" A higher pitched voice asked behind the large man.

"You're already up?" Kid asked Kenna.

"Free woke me up when he was looking for you two." Kenna answered, pointing to Free.

"I was originally looking for Tsubaki, but she kind of disappeared." Free raised his eyebrow at the woman who still had the basketball in her hands.

"Think fast." Tsubaki threw the ball to Free and the wolf caught it easily.

"I'm not participating in a child's game." Free handed the ball to Kenna.

"I want to be on Kid's team." Kenna dribbled the ball with both hands.

"Then we would be uneven." Tsubaki said with a smile at the wolf. "You wouldn't want to upset Kenna, would you?"

"I hate you." Free said through gritted teeth.

"Whatever you say." Tsubaki winked at Free and the group when back to their first positions, this time with Kenna joining Kid's side and Free at Black-Star's.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Free sighed as the ball as thrown to him. The wolf faked to the side and passed it to Black-Star. The star stepped to the side to avoid Kid and he was back to back with the other man before he passed the ball to Tsubaki. Tsubaki threw the ball and it rolled along the rim, falling away from the center and landing in Soul's hands. The scythe ran several feet away before bouncing the ball to Liz.

Kid watched the game go by. Maka stopped paying attention to the score and started doing commentary instead, insulting and complimenting everyone at one point as time passed by. They didn't notice the sun going down until Patty saw the sunset and pointed it out to the others. None of them believed that time had passed by so fast. They finished their game and went back in when their stomachs growled loudly. Everyone forgot the pain, they forgot about the death and misery of their lives as they were being normal. They were teenagers again, playing a game of basketball with friends. Kid was happy, but he knew the happiness wasn't going to last for long.

* * *

I tried to make this chapter a little happier at the end.


	8. Get One, Lose One

"Kid, can you change Kenna's bandage for me? Timmy fell over and he won't stop crying." Tsubaki handed the medical kit over to Kid and ran off without waiting for an answer. Kid didn't mind, he was going to say yes anyways.

"What are you doing!" Kid demanded when he walked into Kenna's room, it belonging only to her after the death of her sister, and found the girl laying on the bed, grabbing pencils and shooting them in the air with a bow-arm.

"I'm bored." Kenna answered, another pencil shot into the ceiling.

"Read a book or use the pencils for what they are made for." Kid dropped the kit on the bed as he stood on it, pulling pencils out of the ceiling. "Write or draw or something not as stupid as this."

"Whatever you say dad." Kenna chuckled and soon found a pencil bouncing off of her nose.

"Don't call me that and sit up." The shinigami ordered, sitting on the ledge of the obeyed, but added a few grumbles as she did so. Kid took Kenna's arm and removing the wrap that held the gauze pad in place.

How could it be only a week since the funeral, he and Black-Star have been for only nine days and it felt like they've been there forever. At least in the week no one got killed or seriously injured, Kid had a thought in the back of his mind that no one was dead or hurt because he's refused to go on a run those seven days. Black-Star wouldn't go out without Kid, never really saying it, but some of the group understood what the star was saying the one time he had to verbally deny going on a run. A week. A week of cooking, cleaning and taking care of Kenna. A week of watching people and never really knowing if they were ever going to come back and a week of Kenna begging to leave. Kid looked at the wound after it was exposed, Kenna still had a good week till it was healed and four of those days it still needed to be covered just in case.

"So how am I doing Dr. Kid?" Kenna asked, her smile the brightest it's been since Bre's death.

"You still have a week before you're leaving the house." Kid diagnosed.

"What!? But I'm going to go insane in this place!" Kenna protested.

"How do you think Maka feels?" Kid asked, biting back his original comment of 'you'll die out of this place'.

"But I'm not pregnant."

"You better not be." The two laughed.

"Hey Kid, can I talk to you?" Maka asked, standing at the opening of the door.

"Of course." Kid finished wrapping Kenna up and followed the woman out of the room. "What's up?" Kid asked when Maka stopped and faced him.

"How's Kenna doing?"

"She's fine, another week and she'll be as good as new." Kid answered. "For a second I thought you were going to ask why mine and Black-Star's soul was smaller at the resturant than normal." Kid chuckled.

"What?" The shinigami saw the confusion in the woman's face.

"Surly you noticed, we were right in front of you." Why did he have to bring it up?

"Uh...yeah..."

"You two weren't there." Kid remembered the hug, Maka hadn't touched them, she was just really close. When she punched the table, Black-Star had cursed and the table jerk came from their side...but what about the chairs, they were sitting... "Free..." Maka looked away. "You used Free's projection thing."

"We can't leave, we're stuck."

"What are you talking about?"

"When the fire kishin was released, everyone's soul that was in the city is now stuck here till you die or that thing dies. You and Black-Star are the only ones that can leave. Stein could too, but..." Maka's sentence trailed.

"He's still alive." Kid said.

"What? But he's never...he hasn't..."

"He said the madness is getting to him and he doesn't want to risk hurting you guys." Kid shook his head. "He must have found us and told you guys."

"We got a letter that wasn't signed, it must have been Stein."

"So did we."

"When I find that man I'm killing him. How many people that I think are dead are actually alive?" Maka asked herself.

"Three so far." Kid answered, smiling at the annoyed glare he received.

"You're worse than Black-Star." The woman sighed.

"I'm not sure that's possible."

"You're the one that's with him." They both chuckled at the comment. "So when are you going to tell everyone?"

"Tell everyone what?" Black-Star and Soul asked, walking to Maka and Kid with two bowels in their hands.

"That you two are together." Maka pointed at the star and shinigami. Kid had thought about it and he and Black-Star had talked about it once and neither of them could find a good reason to and they had plenty of reasons on why they shouldn't.

"We can't." Black-Star answered, handing a bowel to Kid as Soul did the same to Maka.

"Just do it and get it over with." Soul said.

"And risk getting kicked out again." Kid stated. "We just got back together and I don't want to never see you guys again because we informed people of a relationship that doesn't really concern them. I am not allowing my father to force us to leave again."

"But Lord Death-"

"I don't want to hear it." Kid interrupted Maka and walked off.

"He's never going to know." Soul said as they watched Black-Star follow the shinigami.

"I give up. If he finds out too late about Lord Death than it's his fault." Maka snapped.

Kid looked inside of the bowel and noticed there was no meat at all in it, they must be completely out. Kid ate his food as he looked for Free, the two had finished by the time Kid found Free sitting in the kitchen with Tsubaki and a young girl.

"Come on Alana, you need to eat this." Tsubaki held a bowel under the girl's face.

"I'm not hungry, give it to Liana." Alana stated, crossing her arms over her small chest.

"You haven't been hungry for three days, you are eating." Free snapped. "Liana's fine and you're starving yourself, how can you keep Liana safe if you're dead." Alana looked at the wolf once before taking the bowel and walking out of the kitchen.

"Do you need something Kid?" Tsubaki asked when she saw the two men watching the scene that had played out.

"We're out of meat." Kid stated.

"Hunting's harder now a days." Free grumbled.

"I'll go hunting with you." Kid offered.

"What's with the sudden want to leave?" Free asked.

"I need to let out some steam." Kid answered truthfully.

"I'll make sure Alana eats, you go ahead." Tsubaki said. "You need to calm yourself down as well." She left the three men alone.

"I'm guessing Black-Star's coming." Free said as he stood up.

"I need the fresh air." The star stated.

"Whatever, go put your belts on and meet me at the front door." In only a minute the three men were ready, knife belts on and a bag in their backs. Free handed Black-Star and Kid a gun, giving them the warning of only using it in an emergency and they were off without another moment passing.

Kid ignored the guilt that hit his heart as they climbed over the fence, he needed to get over it if he was ever going to be of any real help anymore. The group of three went the opposite way of the market, heading towards a gas station that looked abandoned. Kid froze when he heard something small running past him, he quickly grabbed a knife and threw it towards the sound.

"Squirrel." Free said, seeing the rodent laying on the ground with Kid's knife sticking out of its head.

"Nice shot Kid." Black-Star complimented as the shinigami removed his knife out of the squirrel's head. Free pulled a rope out of his bag and tied it around the squirrel's neck then tied the other end to Kid's bag. The shinigami wasn't that happy with something dead hanging behind him, but he didn't complain, there were worse things in life than a dead he still felt horrible for killing the thing. The men took off again and soon reached the gas station.

"Quiet." Free held his arms out to keep Kid and Black-Star back. The wolf pointed to a large pig that was laying on its side in a puddle of water. "Hopefully everyone missed pork." He said softly. "Stay right here." Free ordered and started creeping up slowly on the sleeping pig.

"What are you doing?" Black-Star asked when he saw Kid looking away.

"I'd rather not see this." The shinigami said and flinched at the pig's dying squeal.

"Alright, let's raid the gas station real quick." Free said, returning to the other two men with a bloody knife in a bloody hand. Kid went to to gas station first, a blade in his hand in case there were kishin demons in the building. After he gave the a-okay, he was joined by Free and Black-Star and the three filled their bags with the candy and food that wasn't molded. Kid saw a brand of candy bar that was called a 'Crunch' bar and he remembered Maka asking for one when they left. He was still pissed at the woman, but she was his friend and she was pregnant so he took all of the Crunches, hearing the whistle to leave when he finished. They were about to leave when they heard a cry, a human cry. Black-Star went towards the sound, ignoring Kid's protest and soon returned with a young child in his arms. The boy had to be no older than four.

"We can't leave him here, he must have lost his mother." Black-Star said, trying to comfort the boy by bouncing him in his arms.

"You're not that cold-hearted Free." Kid added.

"Of course I'm not, you just carry the boy and I'll take care of the pig." The wolf handed his bag to Kid after taking the squirrel off of Kid's bag and he went outside.

"Let's go!" Free snapped from outside and soon the three men were back to the apartment without any trouble, something Kid as thankful for.

"Is that a child?" Tsubaki asked the moment they went into the now filled main room.

"We found him during the hunt and we got pork for a month." Free slapped the pig on his shoulder and went into the kitchen, squirrel hanging from his jeans.

"Robby, can you clean the little boy up?" Tsubaki asked a young man next to her and he took the child away without a single protest.

"Are you going out?" Kid asked, seeing that Tsubaki was wearing a knife belt with a gun in one of its pouches.

"Izzie has the coughs and we're out of cough syrup." She answered. "It's going to be a small group of me, Max, Sonya and Alex. Tell Free if he asks." And without saying anything else to the men she and the other three adults took off.

"You just got back and they're already people gone again?" Maka sighed.

"I got you something." Kid said, trying to brighten the mood.

"What?"

"Crunch bars." The shinigami reached into his bag and handed all of the candy bars to Maka. Hoping there was a truce between them, for now at least.

"Nice to know that you listen." Maka chuckled and bit into a candy bar. Robby walked back in a minute later with the child no clean and in some some-what fresh cloths.

"No injuries." Tommy said with a think spanish accent. "Just dirty." He chuckled as the boy reached for one of the candy bars on the ground.

"Go ahead and put him down." Maka said and when Robby did, she handed the boy a bar. "What's your name?" She asked the boy who was eating the bar like he hadn't eaten in a week.

"James." He said through a mouthful of chocolate.

"Silly, silly, little chico." Robby chuckled.

"He is a silly child." A man with a softer spanish said. "Roberto, did he say anything to you while you were cleaning him?" He repeated himself in spanish. Robby answered in the other language as well. "The boy kept asking for his mother." The man translated for the others.

"So he's parentless." Soul said. "Poor boy."

The group spent a while playing with the youngest in the building, the two twins joined in the game as well, not wanting to be ignored since they were no longer the smallest of everyone. The innocent games were interrupted by the door being thrown open and Tsubaki stumbled into the room, blood covering her face.

"Where's Max?" Someone asked Tsubaki when only two other people joined her. Tsubaki said nothing and only shook her head.

"We were attacked." Sonya said, a small scrape on her arm dripped blood.

"I...I thought I heard something and fired my gun." Alex admitted.

"Tsubaki?" Free saw the battered group. "Alright everyone, let's get them cleaned up." The wolf used the rag he had in his pocket and cleaned Tsubaki's face. "We'll have the ceremony tonight after dinner."

After the three were cleaned and dinner was finished, Kid watched the funeral ceremony start. This time there would be no body to bury, they still had their candles and stood in a circle around a pile of wood. The candles were lit and a young man Kid didn't know stood in the center of the circle. No song was sang, there was no body to sing to so they stood in silence for those minutes, only several sobs broke the silence.

Kid sat on his bed, legs curled up so he could hug his knees. He was alone while everyone else sat in the main room, mourning for the man. Black-Star entered the room and sat next to Kid, wrapping an arm around the shinigami. Kenna soon joined them as well, squeezing herself between the two men and trying her best not to cry. The sent of the candles was still fresh and it made Kid's eyes burn. Nine days, it has only been nine days and this was already their second funeral. Was it ever going to stop?

* * *

I feel like you already know that answer.


	9. Over The Fence

Another four weeks, a whole month of pain passed by and they had lost another man, he had an infected wound he hide from everyone and he died in his sleep. At least he died in peace, Kid thought, grimacing at the memory of horrid scent he had made while being burned. He was the father of the ten year old twins and the boys didn't understand why they couldn't see their father anymore. Kid and Black-Star had skipped that funeral to watch the boys, playing with James as well as the song filled the air. Kenna was finally healed and she was allowed to go out on a run if she was chosen, Kid didn't like the idea of the girl leaving the building at all. During the four weeks Maka scared everyone when she thought the baby was coming, she was just cramping bad from all the candy she had eaten. James had been adopted by everyone, he never only chose one person. Everynight he would go to five different beds before he finally slept for the rest of the night, even Free showed a soft spot for the young boy when Kid woke up one morning to the wolf playing peek-a-boo with James when he thought he was alone. Tsubaki did as well, but she played the game even if people were looking.

"I swear if this baby does not come out soon, I'm cutting myself open and pulling him out." Maka growled, having one of her 'grouchy' days.

"That's sounds more painful than actually giving birth." Liz chuckled, handing the woman a bag of chips she had asked for earlier.

"I'm not going to miss being pregnant." Maka said, opening the bag. "Food cravings, mood swings, swollen ankles and a stomach I can use as a shelf." She laid the bag on her stomach to prove a point. "I like being able to see my toes when I walk." Maka sighed and ate some of the almost stale chips. Little James stumbled over to her and put his hand in the bag, pulling out a chip and eating it. "Even the four year old is mocking me."

"Come here you." Liz grabbed James and lifted him in the air.

"Lizzie!" James giggled.

"Isn't he just adorable?" Liz rested James in the crook of her arm and grabbed the truck he had been playing with earlier, handing it to the still giggling boy.

"Nine months, I am nine months pregnent...I can't do this anymore." Maka groaned.

"Baby's due any day now." Patty said, swinging her legs from the stool she sat on.

"Can't wait to see Soul flip out." Kid chuckled.

"Oh God, oh God. What do I do? What do I do? Someone call a doctor! Call a doctor!" Black-Star mimicked what everyone was thinking. "There is a baby coming!"

"You're an ass-hat Black-Star." Soul said. Black-Star and Kid shared a look before they started laughing. "Did I miss something?"

"Just go with it and help me up." Maka held her hands out. Soul helped Maka to her feet and it took her a moment to keep her balance. "Everyone move, lady with a baby coming through." She said as she walked through the group.

"Hey Kid, could you come over here for a moment?" Talia called, the two twins were on her lap.

"What's going on?" Kid asked when he made it across the crowded room.

"I haven't seen Kenna today, do you know where she's at?" Talia asked.

"I have a pretty good idea." Kid chuckled. Talia rolled her eyes at the man as he walked away. "I'll be right back." Kid said to Black-Star and went back up to the roof.

"Damn it." Kenna cursed and Kid heard the basketball hit the side of the door when he walked through it. "Hey Kid." Kenna sighed, picking the ball off of the ground. She took another shot and missed again, a harsher curse coming out of her mouth.

"There's no need to curse." The shinigami chuckled. "Give me the ball." Kenna passed the ball to the man and Kid threw that ball and it made in the hoop without a problem.

"How do you guys do that?" Kenna asked, getting the ball.

"Aim for the little square, not the hoop." Kid advised. He saw Kenna squint her eyes then she tossed the ball, the ball hit the edge of the rim and flew back at her. Kid jumped in front of Kenna and caught the ball before it hit her.

"It didn't work." Kenna pouted.

"You weren't aiming for the square." Kid stated and handed the ball to Kenna and stood behind her. "Put your feet farther apart-" Kid put his foot between Kenna's. "-standing still as a stick isn't going to help." The shinigami grabbed the girl's hands and adjusted them so one was under the ball and the other was on the side. "You're throwing like you're trying to swat a fly." Kid stood beside Kenna and showed her how to throw the ball. "Flick your wrist." He said, repeating the gesture.

"Like a sassy gay man?" Kenna raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Like the sassiest gay man in the world." Kid chuckled. Kenna squinted her eyes again and poked her tongue out of the side of her lips before shooting the ball. The ball hit the back board and went into the hoop.

"It worked!" Kenna squealed. "I made it!" She cheered as Kid went to get the ball. "You guys always beat me but now I can beat you."

"I'm not sure about that." Kid tossed the ball backwards and it went into the hoop without touching the rim.

"How do you do that?"

"Pure luck." The two laughed but Kid stopped when he heard something strange.

"What's that sound?" Kenna asked hearing the noise as well. "Wait..." They both recognized the sound together and ran over to the edge of the roof, leaning over to see what was going on. "What are they doing!?" Kenna snapped. KId stayed as they watched a group of kishin demons throw a corpse over the fence and start to climb over.

"Shit, I have to tell the others." Kid took off. "Stay here!" He ordered as he threw open and closed the door. "Kishin demons over the fence!" Kid shouted the moment the door slammed shut.

"What?" Free was the first to get to him.

"They're using a body as a bridge, they're over the fence."

"Shit!" Free cursed, hearing something scrape against the door. "Get Maka and the kids into the back of the house, we have demons at the door!" Free shouted as he opened a chest and handed swords to people.

"Where's Kenna?" Talia asked giving her second sword to Kid.

"She's on the roof, safe." Kid answered.

"How are they on the other sie?" Liz ran over to the shinigami, Patty in her hand as a gun.

"They have a body as a bridge." Free said.

"Maka's with the kids, we have Soul and Alex covering the door." Tsubaki said, gripping the sword in her hand and adjusting the gun in her pocket.

"We have to get the body off the fence and kill the demons that made it over." Free said right before the door was kicked open. The first three kishins were shot down by Tsubaki and two other adults with gun. "Let's go!" Free slashed through some kishins as he, Kid, Black-Star, and Liz ran out of the house.

Liz was soon cut off from the group and was surrounded by the demons. She kicked one that was too close for comfort. The woman kept shooting, the demons getting closer and closer to her. Liz let out a scream when one of the kishins jumped on her arm and scratched her as she pulled it away. She tossed Patty in the air and the sisters switched places and Patty started shooting the demons.

Free easily kept the kishins away from him, cutting their heads with a swing of the sword in his hand. He saw Patty struggling and the wolf jumped over there, clearing some of the kishins away from her. One of the kishins jumped on his back and bit his shoulder-blade. Free let out a snarl as he ripped the demon off and stabbed its face. His back healed slowly as he took out more kishins.

Kid and Black-Star took off together, heading straight for the fence. Black-Star tripped over one of the demons and was on his back when a demon landed on it. Kid quickly reacted and stabbed the kishin in the stomach, launching it several feet away from them. Black-Star nodded a thanks as he scrambled back to his feet and knocked a demon away. They ended up back to back for a moment and the two hooked arms together. The star leaned forward and lifted Kid in the air to kick some of the taller kishins away from them. The shinigami flipped himself over and landed on top of a small demon.

"Launch me to the fence!" Kid shouted over the demons. The star went down on a knee and held his hands out. Kid jumped on the hands and Black-Star threw him closer to the fence.

Kid had to slice several kishins when he landed and then took off running. He used some of the smaller demons to jump on to get across the crowd quicker. He finally made it to the fence and saw that the body was Max. He grimaced then climbed up the fence, throwing several demons back to the other side of the fence. Kid grabbed Max's body and he fell back after yanking him off the fence. The shinigami heard the kishins growls as they were denied their ability to cross the fence. Kid pushed the body off of him and saw the number of kishins were finally going down instead of increasing. Kid looked at his body and assumed he was going to be covered in blood, but he found himself dry, Max had been sucked clean...gross.

"Kid, Kid are you okay?" Black-Star ran over to Kid, crouching down next to the man.

"Yeah..." Kid grunted as he stood up, feeling his back already recovering from the rough fall.

""Liz's hurt." Patty said, holding her sister's uninjured arm.

"It's just a simple scratch, just a band-aid will do." Liz said with a smile.

"I'm checking how everyone is inside." Free went back into the building with the others following. "Tsubaki!"

"We're good, no one's hurt." Tsubaki called, dragging a large kishin out of the kitchen.

"Liz has a scratch." Free informed and took the body from the woman.

"I'll take care of that." Tsubaki went over to the older sister.

"Are we all good?" Maka asked as she, Soul, Alex and the kids entered the main room.

"Yeah, no serious injuries." Tsubaki said as she checked Liz's arm.

"We need to talk about what happened, how did they get a body to use? They eat the ones they kill." Free said.

"It was Max's body, they cleaned out the inside and put the empty body over the fence." Kid stated.

"Where is the body now?"

"I left it near the fence."

"Alex, get Max's body and we'll burn it, then we'll get ride of the kishin bodies."

Maka listened to the conversation then suddenly leaned forward with a loud grunt.

"What's wrong Maka, you didn't get hurt did you?" Soul asked.

"N...No..."

"Are you cramping again? I can get you-"

"I'm not cramping!" Maka snapped, gaining everyone's attention.

"Than what's wrong?"

"My water just broke..."

"What?"

"The baby's coming!"

* * *

Boom, that's how you end a chapter.


	10. Kenna's Secret

I bet all of you loved that cliffhanger ;)

* * *

"What! Oh God! What do I do!? What do I do!? What. Do I. Do-" Soul stopped his frantic rant when Tsubaki slapped him across the face.

"You help Free get Maka into one of the empty rooms." Tsubaki threw out orders like she delivered babies everyday. "Miriah heat up some water, Kenna get rags and plenty of them, Kid come with me, we're going to need someone to hold that woman down, Alex get Max's body far way from the fence, now is not the time to worry about kishins and Black-Star, get Nygus because I have no idea what the hell I'm doing!" The group snapped off into different areas. The ones not told anything specific stayed in the main room, out of everyone's way and keeping an eye on the younger ones.

Black-Star took off towards the area where Nygus' room was at, the star tried his best to remember which one was the one the woman had claimed as her room.

"Two twenty-two, twenty-three." Black-Star remembered a five being in the number. "twenty-four, twenty-" The door numbered twenty-five was partly open and the star heard something on the other end of it, so he let himself in. "Nygus-oh God!" Black-Star slapped a hand over his eyes.

"It's called knocking." Sid snapped.

"I...eh...ah...Maka-baby coming!" Black-Star stated.

"What!? Oh dear, Sid, where's my shirt?" The star could feel embarrassment heat his body as he heard the two adults get off the bed. "It's not like you haven't seen boobs before Black-Star." Nygus said as she ran out of the room, fully covered.

"Stop acting like a child Black-Star." Sid said to the younger man, the sound of the zombie's belt being placed back together made Black-Star's ears turn red.

"I am not acting like a child, everyone would react to seeing their dad..." Black-Star removed his hands and took a step back.

"Did you just call me dad?" Sid asked.

"No." The star walked off.

"Hey, hey, hey." The zombie followed the man he raised and stopped him by grabbing Black-Star's arm. "There's nothing wrong with calling me dad."

"But you're not my father." Black-Star stated. "White-Star is...was."

"Bullshit." Sid's curse made the star stop his attempt to escape, Sid didn't usually curse in front of Black-Star, unless something was serious. "He had sex with a woman so that does make him your biological father, but I raised you. I feed you, I got up at every other hour to make you stop crying and I kept you safe. That makes me your dad, whether you admit it or not."

"But..." Black-Star was, for once, lost for words.

"I named you Black-Star for a reason. You're not like White-Star, you're not like him at all and I made sure of that. You are a great man and I'm proud of you." Sid hugged Black-Star and the star stiffened. He wasn't very good with this emotional stuff, he's spent the past five years with men that view emotions as weak and seeing Sid, the only person he truly viewed as an equal besides Kid, hugging him for the second time since he's been here and showing his emotions, threw him off.

"Uh...thanks...dad."

"Took you long enough." Sid and Black-Star turned together and saw Kid standing near them. "Nygus needs you Sid." Kid stated before taking off, the zombie and star following without a word.

Sid went through the door first after Kid stepped to the side and the zombie went straight to Nygus. Kid followed after and went over to Soul while Black-Star stayed at the door, looking at the odd scene in front of him. Maka was laying on the single bed in the room, a blanket covering her lower half and her legs bent up and apart. Nygus sat at the end of the bed, checking under the blanket every other minute.

"Her contractions are getting closer together." Nygus said to Sid. "Maka, you're going to have to start pushing soon."

"Excuse me." Black-Star stepped to the side as the girl named Miriah passed him with a large bucket of water and she was soon followed by Kenna, who was carrying an armful of rags.

"Thank you." Tsubaki said to the younger girls and took the bucket from Wendy. "Set the rags over here, Kenna." Tsubaki placed the bucket several feet away from the bed. Kenna did as she was told and stepped back, waiting to hear what she needed to do next. "Black-Star, take Kenna and Wendy out and make sure everyone's okay." Tsubaki put several rags into the bucket.

"Why can't I-" Maka let out a cry of pain. "-why can't I stay?" Black-Star asked.

"We can't have you getting in the way." Tsubaki admitted, her eyes showing that she hated to do so.

"How would I get in the way?" Black-Star said with a hint of hurt in his voice, making his weapon look away from him. Maka letting out another scream gave the woman a moment to think.

"I'm sorry Black-Star, but can you please just step out and close the door behind you?"

"I'll go with you." Kid offered and took several steps towards the star before he was stopped by Tsubaki.

"We need you Kid, we all know you know more about child birth than myself and Sid do and almost as much as Nygus." Tsubaki stated. Black-Star didn't even bother asking why Tsubaki would know that and he stomped off in silence, Kenna and Miriah following right behind him.

"There's going to be another young one." Miriah said with a chuckle. "Isn't that awesome."

"I hope Maka's going to be alright." Kenna said as she shut the door.

"She's in good hands, she and the little boy's going to be fine." Kenna looked at the other girl and smiled brightly.

"You're right."

"Just think, one day that's going to be us. We're going to be in there, giving birth to our child with our friends and husbands there." Miriah looked at the closed door and no one noticed that Kenna's smile disappeared when Miriah had said 'husbands'.

"Yeah...sounds wonderful." Kenna said softly.

"I'm hungry." Black-Star stated. Kenna shook her head and smiled at the star.

"Me too, let's go to the kitchen and get some food." Kenna took the man's arm and left Miriah staring, wishfully, at the door. Black-Star and Kenna went into the kitchen, passing by the curious crowd in the main room.

"Is everything going well?" Liz asked, James sitting on her lap.

"Yeah, I was just kicked out." Black-Star said bitterly.

"Don't take offence Black-Star, they probably just don't want too many people in the room." The older Thompson sister said.

"Are we getting another brother?" The little twins asked together, giggling when they discovered they had spoke in unison.

"That was kind of creepy." Kilik chuckled and picked up one of the twins. "Alright Tommy-"

"I'm Timmy." The boy protested.

"No you're not." The other twin stated. The one in Kilik's hand put a finger to his mouth.

"You two are a bunch of trouble makers." Kenna said to the twins before she was dragged off by an impatient Black-Star, his stomach growling loudly a moment later. The star grabbed himself a can of peaches and Kenna grabbed pineapple.

"Do you and Kid..." Kenna hesitated to ask her question as Black-Star started to open his can. "Do you two ever plan on having a child?" Black-Star stumbled and let out a curse as he found peach juice all over his hands.

"Uh, you know that's not possible right?" The star asked, drying his hands off on a rag.

"I meant adoption. Do you two ever plan on rasing a child together?" Kenna put her can down, her apatite gone.

"I...I can't." Black-Star said, pulling a peach slice out of the can and eating it.

"Why not?" Kenna asked.

"Because..." The star slammed a fist into the counter. "Because I'm not mature enough. I was sixteen when I left Death City and I tried my best to grow up for five years and I'm still that same crazy, irresponsible child that no one trusts with anything serious. I can't even be in the same room as my best friend's wife as she gives birth to her first child. How could I ever be trusted with someone else's life?" Black-Star stopped, realising he was getting too upset over something stupid. "No, we're not. We're not ready yet." Black-Star said.

"I think you two would make great parents. Any child would be lucky to have you guys as dads."

"And I'm sure you and your future husband will be great parents as well." Black-Star ate another slice of peach and Kenna walked off without saying anything. "Kenna?" Black-Star asked with his mouth full. Did he do something wrong? Black-Star followed Kenna, giving the rest of his peaches to Tommy and Timmy and went up to Kenna's closed door. "Kenna?" The star repeated, knocking softly on the door.

"Go away." Kenna voice was muffled.

"Do you really think I'm going to do that?" Black-Star responded, twisting the doorknob and hearing it click.

"I just want to go to sleep." Kenna stated as the star opened the door. Black-Star found Kenna laying on her stomach on her bed, face resting on her pillow.

"Did I do something wrong?" Black-Star asked, closing the door behind him.

"No." Was Kenna muffled answer.

"Can I do anything to make you feel better?" The star stepped over to the girl.

"No."

"I don't believe you." Black-Star grabbed Kenna's sides and started tickling her. If it works on Kid, it should work on Kenna and it did. Kenna let out a squeal and flipped over, trying to slap away the man's hands.

"You're an asshole." Kenna said between laughs.

"So I've been told." Black-Star said and stopped. The star sat down next on the edge of the bed as Kenna caught her breath and sat up. "Something did upset you though, what was it?"

"Nothing." Kenna played with the blanket she was sitting on.

"And I don't have blue hair." The star smiled when Kenna laughed a little.

"Could you give me some advice Black-Star?" Kenna asked a moment later. Black-Star raised an eyebrow, usually people would ask anyone else but him for advice.

"Sure, I'll try my best." The star said truthfully.

"I...uh..." Kenna's checks flushed a light pink. "I have a crush on someone." Black-Star stiffened, Kenna was asking him for romance advice?

"Uh, that's great." Black-Star smiled at the girl, now understanding how Sid had felt when he was younger and said the same thing to him.

"And I...I don't know how to talk to the person."

"Well...just be yourself." Black-Star said what he assumed Kid would say in this situation. "What's his name?" Kenna shook her head. "Is it Alex? He's a nice boy." Black-Star could feel the awkwardness in the air.

"No." Kenna said softly.

"Jake?" Kenna shook her head again. "Kilik?" Another head shake. "Ox?" The star let out a silent thanks when Kenna said no. "Who is he?" Black-Star asked in defeat.

"It's...It's not a...oh this is stupid!" Kenna snapped and stood up.

"Come on Kenna, just tell me who he is, it's not Ox so you're pretty good with everyone else."

"Black-Star, we're not that different." Kenna crossed her arms, staring at the ground. "We both like the same gender..." The girl sniffed. "And I don't mean that we both like guys..." Kenna looked back up at Black-Star, a single tear falling down her cheek.

"Kenna?" Black-Star stood up. "What are you saying?"

"I...I'm gay, like you and Kid. I...I like girls." More tears flowed out of her eyes. "No one knows, Bre didn't even know. I kept this secret to myself, I was afraid. I was afriad of becoming more of an outcast than I already am. No one else is like me...no one else is like this." Kenna wiped her eyes. "Then you and Kid came, I wasn't alone anymore. You two are just like me. But you never told anyone, so I didn't either. I heard Kid say that they don't need to know something that doesn't affect the rest of the group. But it's not fair that you to have each other and the girl I love...I can't even talk to her, I'm afraid she's going to deny me and get everyone to hate me because I'm different."

"You like Miriah?" Black-Star asked. Kenna nodded her head, trying to dry off her face.

"She wants a husband...not a wife." Her voice cracked. "She's beautiful. She's nice, funny and her smile is brighter than the sun...she always looks on the bright side of life and she isn't afraid to make her opinion heard. She's soft and hard at the same time and she is the smartest person I have ever meet." Kenna choked back a sob. "She's everything I'm not." Black-Star went up to Kenna and hugged her, not knowing what else to do. After several minutes of them standing there a loud cheer from behind the wall told both of them the baby had finally come. "The baby's here!" Kenna said with some excitement and took off, acting as if what had just happened, didn't. Black-Star thought that Kenna was better at hiding her emotions than he was.

Black-Star left the room and walked to the main room. He saw Kid talking to the crowd, telling all of them that the baby boy was healthy and came out without any problems and they haven't named the baby yet, that everything was going to be okay.

Kid and Black-Star finally made eye contact and the shinigami could tell by the look of the other man's face, that they needed to talk and they needed to talk now.

* * *

A chapter all about Black-Star.

Took you long enough man and plot twist with Kenna. Bet you didn't see that coming,


	11. Put Aside, For Now

"Black-Star, what's wrong?" Kid asked as soon as he was able to get away from everyone and he and the star were alone in their room.

"It's Kenna." Black-Star said.

"Is there something wrong with her? She looked just fine talking to Liz and Patty about the baby."

"She's gay." Kid flinched in shock. "She has a crush on one of the girls here and she's scared about it."

"Why would she be scared?"

"Kenna believes that she's alone, that no one else is like her and when we came along, we showed her that she should keep her sexuality and emotions a secret."

"My God, we are horrible role models." Kid sighed. "What are we going to do?" The shinigami fell back on to the bed.

"Are you really asking me? You and I are both horrible at giving advice to the girl." Black-Star sat down next to the laying Kid. "We're both horrible at advice in general."

"I'm not that bad." Kid stated.

"Then tell me what we're going to do about Kenna. We can't let her suffer because of our mistakes."

"I don't like this, I don't like any of this. I just want to go to sleep and never get up again." Black-Star laid back and grabbed Kid's hand.

"I'll join you in that endless sleep. It'd be at lot easier than here." Kid sat up and crossed his legs, sitting next to the star's stomach. "Maybe we could ran off again. Go back to being crazy teenagers and living on our own."

"We're not that old Black-Star." Kid chuckled.

"Oh my back." Black-Star flipped on to his stomach and put his hands against his back. "I think I hurt my back." He groaned.

"Let me help you, you poor old fool." Kid climbed on top of Black-Star and sat on the star's back, his knees resting on the mattress.

"I don't think this is helping." Black-Star said, arching his back and lifting Kid into the air. The shinigami let out a yelp as he slipped off of the other man. Black-Star swung a leg over the shinigami and was soon straddling his hips. "This, on the other hand, is." Black-Star waited for a protest from Kid, but was shocked to find the other man wrapping his arms around his neck and pulling him into a kiss. It had been over a month, almost seven weeks and it drove them mad. Kid's shirt was thrown across the room and soon was joined by Black-Star's. Hands roamed and they let out soft moans as their thought went to different places, forgetting that they were in a building filled with people.

"Hey Black-Sta-holy shit!" Kenna's curse made the men freeze, they remember where they're at now. Kid quickly scrambled out of under Black-Star, finding his shirt and putting it back on. Black-Star looked at Kenna and saw that she had her hands over her eyes, just like he had when he walked in on Sid and Nygus. "I think I'm blind." Kenna said.

"How are you feeling Kenna?" Kid asked, trying to make his flushed cheeks and his still ruffled shirt presentable to talk seriously to the girl.

"Awkward, I just walked in on you two when you were about to do the nasty." Kenna responded, hands still covering her eyes. "These walls are sound proof so put a sock or a hat or something on the door as a warning for me like everyone else does."

"That's not what I meant, Black-Star told me."

"Oh." Kenna removed her hand and stayed silent and watched Black-Star put his shirt back on. "It's nothing, I just got over emotional over something stupid." The girl looked at Kid and gave him a big smile, the shinigami knew it was fake and it was still hard to tell that it was.

"It's not stupid, it's who you are."

"I know. Everything's fine, you guys don't need to worry about me. What you two need to worry about is getting you some supplies."

"Supplies?"

"You know what I mean. I don't want to see it, but I know it's going to happen and I want you guys to be safe and have a little fun with it as well." Kenna winked. "Plus it'd be very obvious if Kid started limping suddenly." Kid stiffened while Black-Star laughed.

"Kenna!" The shinigami snapped. Kenna let out a laugh, a real genuine laugh, at least, that's what it sounded like.

"She's almost as bad as me." Black-Star said between laughs.

"Tsubaki's going on a run soon and I know where she's going." Kenna sang.

"I'm going to go check on the baby." Kid stated and walked off.

"Kenna, I know what you're doing." Black-Star said, his face serious.

"What are you talking about?" Kenna asked with a smile still on her lips.

"You're hiding your emotions, putting on a mask to hide the pain."

"What are you talking about?" Kenna repeated, her smile twitching.

"I did the same thing, actually, I still do it. We don't want anyone to know that we're suffering, we don't want them to worry." The star put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with not wanting people to worry about you. But if you need help, or ever just need a hug, come to me and Kid. And if you want me to-" Black-Star walked over to the door. "-I can talk to Miriah for you."

"Don't you dare!" The star winked and took off, Kenna following the man. "I will kick your ass!" Kenna jumped on Black-Star's back, wrapping her arms and legs around the star. Timmy and Tommy squealed and joined Kenna. The twins grabbed Black-Star's legs and almost knocked the star over.

"Help, anyone?" Black-Star asked, taking a step that involved moving Tommy along with his leg.

"Nah, you can keep the twins busy while I get me something to eat." Liz said and went into the kitchen.

"Kenna, get off." The star took another step, moving Timmy this time.

"I'm good, I think I might be as tall as Free now." Kenna chuckled.

"No where near it." Free said across the room.

"I'll get her." Kid went behind the star and grabbed Kenna. The girl let out a squeak and lost her grip on the blue-haired man.

"Put me down!" Kenna squealed as Kid held her up by her sides.

"Five minutes, I step out for five minutes and you guys are attacking each other." Tsubaki said, hands on her hips.

"How's Maka?" Black-Star asked, the twins on his legs getting bored and running over to Patty.

"She's great, although I didn't know she knew half of the curses that came out of her mouth and she's stating she is never having a child ever again."

"And the baby?"

"Cleaned up and begging for food." Tsubaki chuckled.

"Does he have a name yet?"

"No, they can't make up their mind and if you even think about them naming the child after you, I will make sure that you can't make a Black-Star junior."

"Can't you just feel the love in the room." Soul said as he entered the room, an empty cup in his hand. "By the way, his name is Lance Spirit Evans."

"Lancey!" James giggled, clapping his hands together.

"You positive that everything is good." Tsubaki asked the scythe.

"We're all good, you can go on the run. I, on the other hand, have to get some water for Maka." Soul tipped his cup at the group before going off for the kitchen.

"Me, Kid and Black-Star volunteer to go!" Kenna raised her hand and jumped up and down.

"Alright. Miriah-" Kenna stopped jumping "-come with us too, the place I want to go to is locked and you're our best lock picker." Miriah looked up from her sketch pad and with worry in her eyes, she said;

"Okay." And she went back to her drawing.

"We're leaving in five minutes." Tsubaki stated and Miriah let out a hum as she kept drawing. "Miriah!" Miriah let out a yelp and dropped her sketch pad, the thing sliding across the room and landing right in front of Kenna's feet. Kenna bent down and picked up the sketch pad.

"Okay, okay, okay. I'll get ready." Miriah got up and went over to Kenna. "Thanks for picking up my sketch pad." Kenna smiled and nodded as she handed the sketch pad back. Kid got a glimpse of the drawing Miriah had been looking on and he thought the person being drawn looked like Kenna. "Meet you guys at the door." Miriah said and walked off.

"Smooth." Black-Star said softly.

"Shut up." Kenna responded through her teeth.

"It was pretty bad." Kid added.

"Are you coming or are you going to stand there and gossip like old women?" Tsubaki said with a smile.

"At least I'm fabulous." Kenna snapped her fingers and took off. Kid and Black-Star shared a look then saluted Tsubaki before going off as well.

Soon the group of five were standing in front of the doors. All of them had their own knife belt, Miriah, Kenna and Black-Star had swords on their back while Kid and Tsubaki had guns and all of them had a bag with them as well. Tsubaki told the other four that they were hitting a house that she knew had baby stuff in it by the 'baby on board' sticker the burnt up car sitting in front of the house had. Tsubaki had the group put Miriah in the middle of the line since she was the least experienced on going on runs. Tsubaki went out first, followed by Black-Star, Miriah, Kenna and at the end was Kid. The group went over the fence, Kid grimaced, he didn't like the fence anymore. First it was Kenna, then Bre and the last time he met the fence he had removed Max's hollow corpse, not very good memories.

"How far is the house?" Black-Star asked.

"Good ten minute jog-" Tsubaki stopped and pulled a knife out of her pocket. A second later a small kishin demon appeared from behind a wall and Tsubaki stabbed it in the head before it even noticed the group.

"Damn."

"Thank you." Tsubaki chuckled and put her knife back in her belt. The group went off in silence, making sure not to make too much noise as they finally reached the house. Tsubaki and Black-Star stepped to the side and allowed Miriah to go to the door. The girl went to her knees and pulled several bobbie-pins out of her wild hair and a thin blade from her pocket.

"Hey Black-Star." Kenna jerked her head to the side and gestured toward a store that had three x's on the windows.

"Get any ideas and I will kill you." Kid growled, hand resting on one of his knifes.

"I wasn't." The star protested.

"Fine, if you won't get the stuff. I will." Kenna took off towards the adult store.

"What is she doing!?" Tsubaki snapped in a soft voice at the two men.

"We'll get her." Kid and Black-Star went after the girl, both muttering curses as they pushed open the door.

"What the hell is this!?" Kenna shouted, holding a box in her hands.

"You really don't know?" Black-Star asked as he took the box away from Kenna.

"The closest thing to the sex talk I've gotten is Free stating what a man and a woman do to make a baby and some books I've found in other houses."

"Put the box back." Kid stated. "And let's go back before Tsubaki worries." Black-Star dropped the box and he and Kenna started to leave. Kid made sure the two weren't looking and he slipped a bottle into his back pocket.

"Oh God!" Kenna gasped.

"Dead hooker!" Black-Star added. Kid ran over to the two and resisted the urge to slap his forehead.

"That's a mannequin you idiots, not a dead...woman." Kid didn't feel like calling the mannequin wearing lingerie a dead 'hooker', as Black-Star had put it. "You two scared me a litt-" The three froze at the sound of a scream.

"That was-"

"Miriah!" Kenna finished Black-Star statement and ran, turning her arm into a bow and pulling a pebble out of her pocket. Kid and Black-Star were right behind her as they left the store and soon found Tsubaki and Miriah surrounded by kishin demons.

"The house was filled!" Tsubaki shouted, firing several bullets at demons that were getting close to Miriah. Miriah had her sword in her hand and was swinging it around wildly. Kenna quickly fired an arrow she had made from the pebble and shot a demon in the head when it was about to bite Miriah's leg.

"Black-Star, throw me." Kid ordered and without a second thought Black-Star went to one knee and held his hands out. The shinigami stepped on the hands and jumped as the star tossed him. A move that was very familiar to the two. Kid flipped in the air and he landed in the center of the circle with Miriah and Tsubaki. Black-Star pulled his sword out and decapitated several kishins that stood on the edge. Some of the other demons took notice and started to attack Black-Star and the star had no problem with that. Kenna stopped firing arrows since she had ran out of pebbles and she took out her own sword and helped Black-Star out with his small group of kishins.

"This is why I like staying indoors!" Miriah shouted as she felt her stomach turn after cutting through a demon's face and seeing a green substance gush out of it. Kid let out a curse when he was pushed over by a taller demon and he fell on to his rear. He ignored the fact that the bottle in his pocket popped and the substance got all over the back of his pants and covered the ground. Kid quickly got up and pushed Miriah out of the way of a flying kishin, cutting himself and Miriah from Tsubaki.

"There's too many!" Kenna shouted.

"Don't worry-" Tsubaki slipped on the stuff on the floor. She tried to get up as fast as she could, stumbling to her knees and a kishin with one hand that had a single finger which was longer by a foot than the rest. Tsubaki reached for the gun she had dropped but before she could fire, the kishin shoved his hand into her chest.

"Tsubaki!" Black-Star cried.


	12. Tsubaki

Dear I feel horrible for that cliff hanger...

* * *

"Tsubaki!" Black-Star cried again as he watched his weapon fall face-first on to the ground. The kishin that had stabbed her opened his mouth to show its fangs and bent down. Kid quickly made his way over to the demon and stabbed it in the head before it could bite and try to eat Tsubaki. The other kishin were letting out squeals at the sight of a body that wasn't moving.

"We have to get her back!" Kenna shouted. "Black-Star!" The girl called out to the star, who was just standing there, frozen. "Black-Star..." Kenna said softer. Kid saw the anger that was filling the star's eyes.

"Kenna, Miriah, take Tsubaki and run!" He ordered. Kenna and Miriah hesitated before running over to Kid and both of them holding Tsubaki and went off as fast as they could away from the group. The demons were slowly getting out of their crazed dance as they started to notice two bodies leaving them. "Come on Black-Star!" Kid shouted, taking out several kishins that were trying to go after Miriah and Kenna. The shinigami didn't flinch when the star let out a scream, he prepared himself for what he knew was going to happen. Black-Star grabbed his sword and went on a rampage. He let out several more screams as he brutally killed the kishin demons, slashing without looking. Kid stayed away from Black-Star and took out the ones left on the ground that weren't killed, but unable to move from the lack of limbs and what appeared to be organs. One by one the demons were killed and their numbers decreased as Black-Star went mad. The star eventually stopped when he stabbed the end of the sword into a kishin's eye, the last one from the horde. Black-Star gasped for air as he stood in the center of a field of kishin corpses. "Black-Star." Kid went over to his partner and took the sword out of his hand. "We need to go, we can catch up to them and help Tsubaki." Black-Star didn't say anything and took in a deep breath before taking off. Kid removed the now empty bottle from his pocket and tossed it, a harsh pang of guilt hitting him before he ran off.

The shinigami quickly caught up to Black-Star and the two men found Kenna and Miriah struggling at the fence, trying to get Tsubaki's limp body over it. Black-Star didn't say anything and took Tsubaki from the two girls and climbed over the fence without a problem. Kenna and Miriah followed the star with Kid right on their heels as they ran into the apartment.

"Tsubaki's hurt!" Black-Star shouted, trying to get someone's attention as he entered the building.

"Shit, put her down!" Free ordered and the star did as he was asked, hoping the wolf knew what he was doing. "What happened?" He demanded as he ripped open Tsubaki's shirt, exposing the large gash in her chest, a broken claw sticking out of it.

"We opened the house and were attacked." Miriah answered then ran off with a hand over her mouth. A moment later they could hear gagging noises coming from where Miriah had ran off to. Free didn't say anything as he gripped the claw and yanked it out of Tsubaki's body, blood trickling out of the wound.

"She'll be fine." Free stated, tossing the claw aside.

"Fine? She has a hole in her chest!" Black-Star snapped.

"Just wait, Kenna get some rags." Kenna nodded and took off. Black-Star was about to shout again when he noticed the blood had already stopped flowing. Free used his hand to wipe some blood away from the wound and the two men could see it slowly closing. Healing.

"What?" They said together.

"Here are the rags Free. I'm going to go check on Miriah." Kenna handed the rags to Free before taking off used a rag to start cleaning up some of the still wet blood from Tsubaki's body, the gash halfway closed. The wolf used a wet rag to clean out the wound before it completely shut. A moment after the cut was fully healed, Tsubaki's chest started to move up and down, she was breathing.

"What the hell? How is this possible?" Black-Star exclaimed. That was when he saw the marking on Tsubaki's stomach, the symbol looked familiar, very familiar. Free looked at the star and that was when he remembered where the symbol was from, it was the same symbol Free had in his special eye.

"No, that's not possible. How could you even..." Kid's sentence trailed off.

"It's a long story." Free answered, Tsubaki's body was now cleaned off.

"It's not like we have anywhere to go." Kid stated as the wolf picked Tsubaki off of the ground bridal style.

"Let me put Tsubaki in bed and I'll tell you guys. It's time everyone knows as well why Tsubaki is the way she is."

Free sat down on the middle of a bench in the main room, everyone gathered around to wolf, all wanting to know the story he was finally able to admit to all of them. Kid sat on the heels of his feet, not wanting to get the ground wet and reminding himself to change his pants as soon as the story was over. He and Black-Star sat with Soul and Maka. Maka had dragged herself out of bed with the baby in her arms, stating she had to hear the story and refused to only her someone retelling it to her. She sat on several layers of blanket and Lance was cuddled against her chest, letting out little whines every other breath. Liz and Patty sat together behind the four, leaning against each other for support since they had been woken up from Black-Star's shouting. Kenna and Miriah joined the crowd right before Free started, they sat together next to Kid.

"Most of you already know that Tsubaki can heal fast compared to a normal weapon, but none of you know why." Free looked around the room as he spoke. "It all started the first day of the war, when we were all trapped inside of the DWMA building. I was there trying to free Eruka from a cell since she had gotten herself captured, she's saved me from a prison before and it was my time to pay her back. I managed to break in without being sighted yet and I reached Eruka's cell when it all started. I was in the cell when fire came out from the deeper part of the dungeon and I had shielded Eruka with my body till the flames passed. Madness filled the air as we tried to escape, having to change our route often because of flames or those kishin demons would show up and Eruka would scream. We finally got out of the dungeon, that was when we ran into Tsubaki. She didn't care who we were, she just cared that we were living people in danger and she started showing us the way out, saying she knew where you guys were at. We were almost there, I could smell the clean air, but we were cut off by a large wall of flame. I could have ran though it without a problem, but I couldn't leave Eruka and Tsubaki behind, I'm an asshole but I'm not willing to let them die because I was getting sick of the madness corrupting my mind." Free rubbed the back of his neck. "Then the kishin demons showed up, a large pack of them. I kept the girls behind me as I took kishins out right and left, getting bit but healing fast enough for it not to be a problem. One of them got past me and..." The wolf paused before continuing. "And it tried to kill Eruka but Tsubaki stepped between them, giving up her own life to save someone she didn't even know. Tsubaki died, she was dead." The word 'dead' hung in the air, Timmy and Tommy let out a soft cry and was hushed and hugged against Talia's chest. "I wasn't fast enough to prevent Eruka from getting killed as well and when they took her life, they took her body and ran off, disappearing before I could stop them. It was just me and Tsubaki, alone. The fire wall went down and blood pooled around Tsubaki's body. I went over to her, thinking that maybe there was a chance she was alive and that was when the most powerful wave of madness hit me. I had my hand on Tsubaki's stomach when I lost control. Something surged through me and it gave me the power to bring Tsubaki back to life, some how the madness was strong enough to do that and it gave her my powers. She can heal, yes, but she's also immortal like me."

"She's what..." Black-Star said out loud in disbelief.

"She's immortal, she can't die. But since she's only had the power for four years, when she gets badly injured her mind needs time to recover and catch up to her body."

"You caved." Tsubaki stated. the group turning in unison and staring at the woman. She had on a different shirt but she hadn't fixed her hair yet, stray strands covering part of her face. "I didn't want them to know about me." Tsubaki said, putting a hand on her stomach where her marking was at. "Now all of you are going to think I'm a freak." She sniffed, choking back a sob. Kenna was the first one up, wrapping her arms around Tsubaki, Black-Star and Kid both knowing that she understood how the woman felt. They also knew how it felt when they believed everyone thought they were a freak, an outcast, not one of the normal crowd.

"You're not a freak." Timmy said, taking one of Tsubaki's hands after Kenna stepped back.

"You're really cool." Tommy said, taking the woman's other hand.

"You're big and tough."

"But not scary."

"Free's scary." The twins looked at the wolf and giggled.

"Don't make me eat you." Free threatened with a soft growl and a smile as he jumped to his feet. The boys let out a squeal and hide behind Tsubaki. "I told you, everything's fine with them knowing." Free said to Tsubaki as he stepped up to her.

"I hate you." Tsubaki said with a small smile.

"Whatever you say." The wolf winked.

"Get a room!" Kenna said, making the room laugh.

"Speaking of rooms, isn't it time for the little ones to go to bed?" Tsubaki asked.

"Nope." The twins said together and took off.

"I'll get the twins and you get James?" Free offered.

"No problem." Tsubaki smirked.

"Break!" Free ran after the boys, shouting 'the big bad wolf is going to get you'.

"That man is an idiot." Tsubaki sighed and went over to Maka. "How's Lance?"

"He's getting fussy, I'm going to take him to a different room." Soul helped Maka up to her feet, the woman handed the baby to the scythe for a moment so she could hug Tsubaki. "You could have just told us, you're still Tsubaki no matter how long you live."

"James!" Patty called.

"He was right next to me, five seconds ago!" Liz exclaimed.

"He couldn't have gotten far." Tsubaki said and joined them in the search. They stopped when they heard a shout from Robby. "Robby what's wrong?" Tsubaki found Robby and James in front of the door, James was playing in the puddle of blood that Tsubaki had made earlier and Robby was paler than a ghost.

"El Diablo." Robby crossed himself as Tsubaki picked up the small child.

"That's just weird." Kilik stated, his own face turning a light shade of green.

"Let's get you cleaned up, buddy." Tsubaki grimaced as she held the boy at arms length and walked out of the room. Robby started calling out for his brother 'Jose', crying 'El Diablo' when he finally showed up. The two bother went back in forth in Spanish for a while.

"He probably doesn't even know what he was playing with." Ox said to Kilik.

"It's still messed up and now Robby's flipping his shit." Kilik responded.

"I'll be right back Black-Star." Kid went off, going to his and Black-Star's room and changing his pants. He was zipping himself up when Black-Star joined him.

"Why did you change?" The star asked.

"I had sunscreen in my pocket and when I fell it got everywhere." Kid stated.

"Sunscreen?" Black-Star looked at Kid's discarded pants. "Sunscreen's white."

"I rubbed the color off." Kid didn't face the other man.

"Sunscreen doesn't smell like blueberries." The star saw Kid stiffen, the shingami had been caught in his lie. "You had lube?"

"Shut up, I'm a man too." Kid tucked his undershirt in. "And I hate it." Before Black-Star asked him what he meant, Kid continued. "If I never grabbed the bottle, Tsubaki wouldn't have gotten hurt. She would be dead if she wasn't immortal, all because I grabbed a bottle of-" Kid stopped, feeling something press against his neck.

"It's okay." Black-Star said softly and gave Kid's neck another kiss.

"God I'm done with place." Kid lifted his arm and grabbed the star's hair, leaning himself against Black-Star's lips.

"We could still just leave." Black-Star said between kisses, trailing his tongue up the pale neck after his last word.

"We can't leave them." The shinigami let out a soft moan when the star bite a sensitive part right behind his neck. "Maka just had a child and what about Kenna?"

"You're ruining the mood." Black-Star muttered and wrapped his arms around Kid's hips.

"I just changed." Kid protested weakly as he turned himself around and pressed their lips together.

"You can change again." Black-Star stated and untucked Kid's undershirt and ran his hands across Kid's chest.

"Black-Star, Kid." Kenna said from behind the door, knocking.

"At least she knocked this time." Kid stated as he and Black-Star parted. "Coming!" He called as he tucked his shirt back in.

"I just wanted to let you guys know that Maka and Soul named you as the Godparents of Lance."

"What?" Kid opened the door and saw Kenna standing at the door with her eyes covered with her hands. "We're Godparents?"

"Yep." Kenna removed her hands and saw Kid completely covered, thinking everything was safe, she walked in. "You guys are, why does he have a pillow on his lap?"

"Really Black-Star?" Kid sighed.

"My thighs are cold." The star stated.

"Wait, I think I've read about this-"

"Nope, nope, nope." Kid ushered Kenna out of the room. "Black-Star take care of your...cold thighs and join us out in the main room.

"You could help."

"No!" Kid snapped and slammed the poor shut.

"Is Black-Star okay?" Kenna asked.

"Yeah, he's just an idiot."

"He's your idiot." Kid rolled his eyes and rubbed Kenna's head, getting a shout of protest about him messing up her hair.

"Both of you are my idiots." He stated.

* * *

...Cold thighs...damn it Black-Star...


	13. Back Again

Kid watched as yet another week passed by and he couldn't prevent himself from being curious about his father. He hadn't heard a single word from Lord Death except for messages passed to the group. Why doesn't his father just come out of the room he's been in and talk to everyone himself? Does he not want to see him that badly that he won't even be in the same room as him? Was what he did that bad? Maybe he should go to his father instead of waiting for Lord Death to come to him...but why should he have to do that? He wasn't the one that kicked out of the city for liking Black-Star, for liking a man. That's not fair, Kid could wait his whole life if he has to. If Lord Death was going to be stubborn, he could be as well.

Black-Star never mentioned it either, figuring that it should be up to Kid when he wants to confront his dad about what had happened. The star was curious about the reaper though, wondering why they haven't seen him at all. Lord Death adored his son, at least that's how he always acted before the incident, why wouldn't he run to the man and hug his child that's been gone for five years? It was weird, but this was Death City, nothing made sence here anymore.

"Hush little baby, don't say a word. Kenna's gonna buy you a mockingbird." Kenna rocked baby Lance in her arms, Maka and Soul hadn't been able to get him to stop crying and they were tired so Kenna volunteered to sing Lance a lullaby to get him to sleep. "And if that mockingbird won't sing, Kenna's gonna buy you a diamond ring." She sang softly, but everyone heard it anyway and they were drifting off just like the baby. "And if that diamond ring turns brass, Kenna's gonna buy you a looking-glass." Tommy and Timmy were curled up on Liz's lap and Liz was trying her best to stay awake with a sleeping Patty on her shoulder. "And if that looking-glass gets broke, Kenna's gonna buy you a billy-goat." Miriah was sitting on a bench, hunched over her sketchbook and looking up at Kenna ever now and then. "And if that billy-goat don't pull, Kenna's gonna buy you a cart and bull." Tsubaki leaned against a wall, arms crossed but with a small smile on her face. "And if that cart and bull turn over, Kenna's gonna buy you a dog named Rover." Kid looked through the cracks of a boarded up window and saw the sun slowly sinking down and turning the sky into a beautiful shade of orange with pinks and red highlighting the setting sun. How many times has he seen that setting sun? Why has it been different these past two months than the five years he's been gone? Kid felt something brush against his hand. He looked over at Black-Star and saw that the star was staring at the singing Kenna. The two were siting on the ground with their backs to the wall and James was sitting between them. "And if that dog named Rover won't bark, Kenna's gonna buy you a horse and cart." Kid kept his face blank and slide his hand closer to Black-Star behind James, who had his little head on Kid's lap and feet resting on Black-Star's. The star felt the tips of the shinigami's fingers touch his and he lifted his own hand and placed it on top of Kid's, both of them showing everyone in front of them that nothing was happening. "And if that horse and cart fall down, you'll still be the sweetest baby in town." Kenna hummed out several more notes and Lance was asleep, finally.

"How?" Kid said softly to himself. How could they just sit here? How could they act as if everything was okay? How isn't everyone freaking out and waiting to be attacked again by the kishin demons? How is this their life?

"Kiddy?" James held his hands up towards the shinigami. "I'm hungry." He stated.

"I'll get him something." Black-Star offered and got up, leaving Kid's hand colder than it was before. The shinigami sighed and watched Kenna go into Soul and Maka's room with Lance and leave it without the baby in her arms.

"How are you James?" Kenna asked the young boy when she finally made it past the crowd.

"Hungry." James said.

"Black-Star's getting him a quick snack before he goes to bed." Kid told Kenna as James rolled himself up to his feet.

"You have a pretty voice." James grabbed Kenna's hand and tugged.

"Thank you." Kenna scooped the little boy off the ground. She looked around before leaning toward Kid and whispering. "We're out of diapers, we need baby stuff now."

"I'll talk to Tsubaki." Kid told Kenna. "You go feed James and tell Black-Star to meet me at the front door."

"Alright, but if you guys leave I want to come." Before Kid could protest Kenna left.

"That girl is so stubborn." Kid muttered to himself as he stood up and he found himself smiling. She sounded like someone he knew. Stubbornness was a very common characteristic. "Hey Tsubaki." The shinigami gave the woman a wave as he walked up to her.

"What's up Kid?" Tsubaki asked, uncrossing her arms.

"Kenna said that we're running out of diapers and Lance isn't going to be drinking milk from Maka forever, we need to go on a run now."

"I know, I really do...but I've been delaying the run for that house." Tsubaki admitted.

"You don't need to worry about us."

"I don't want to risk getting killed like that again. It's a horrible feeling Kid. You do die but you don't. Free's gotten his body to the point of when he gets injured it heals quickly and his mind can adjust to the death almost as fast. If he went through the same thing I did, he would have been up in three seconds and would have continued fighting and wouldn't have to worry about any of you getting hurt under his watch and I already lost Max...Unlike Free, I pass out, my mind isn't strong enough to handle the fact that I can not die." Tsubaki shook her head, showing she didn't like showing her emotions. No one liked showing how they felt anymore and it bothered Kid.

"Tsubaki, I'm sorry about what happened to y-"

"It's not your fault." Tsubaki cut him off. "I'll go talk to Free."

"Free's already out, he went back to the gas station to look for more pigs." Kid stated, crossing his arms.

"Why are you acting pissed off?"

"Because I am. I remember back in the day when you would tell everyone if something was bothering you and now you and everyone else won't tell anyone anything unless it's anger."

"Like you have any room to talk!" Tsubaki snapped, getting the attention of the few adults and teens left in the room. "You're hiding like the rest of us. Why did you guys leave?"

"That's not of anyone's concern." Kid said, aiming the statement at Tsubaki and to everyone that he knew was listening in on the conversation.

"How isn't it? You guys left us and it's not only the fact that you left it's that you guys left without a word. Not a single, 'hey guys, me and Black-Star are going to run off and not come back for five years', nothing, absolutely nothing." Tsubaki bite her tongue so she wouldn't shout. "I thought I did something wrong." The woman pushed herself away from the wall and walked past Kid. "You and Black-Star go on out to the house and clear it." Kid watched Tsubaki clench her hands. "And I don't care if you come back this time." The shinigami heard Tsubaki's voice crack as she practically ran off.

"Hey Tsubaki..." Black-Star watched his weapon pass him. "Did I miss something?" The star asked Kid.

"We're going on a run." Kid stated and walked away.

"And I'm going too." Kenna said.

Black-Star slid his sword on to the holder on his back, trying to get Kid to explain what had happened between him and Tsubaki, but all he got was a forget about it and when Kenna wasn't in the room, he was told he would get the story later. They both told Kenna that if she wanted to go that badly, she had to do everything they said and while they were going to the house she had to stay between them. Kenna let out a pout and when she saw that the men were not changing her mind, she agreed to their conditions.

"Let's go!" Kenna cheered and tried to run out of the building but was held back by Kid, giving her a warning glare before taking off ahead of her. Black-Star gave her a light nudge and Kenna followed Kid with the star right behind her. "We could stop by that one store again, you guys didn't get any..." Kenna's sentence tailed when she found herself being glared at again. "Nevermind." She muttered and the group of three stayed silent as they ran to the house.

"Wait here." Kid ordered the two and went into the house first.

"Where did all of the bodies go?" Kenna asked, seeing that all of the kishins that had been killed were gone and even Tsubaki's blood was gone as well. "It looks cleaner than the first time we got here."

"Maybe the demons are as OCD as Kid." Black-Star said and the two laughed. Kenna remembering the one time Kid had entered her room and found her sitting on her floor with paper everywhere and the man had made her stack the pages neatly before he would leave her room.

"The house is clear." Kid stated. "Why are you guys laughing?"

"I was just telling Kenna about the time you got yourself stuck in a port-a-potty." Black-Star said as he and Kenna entered the house.

"I was not stuck. You and your friends held the door shut." Kid snapped.

"I apologized, didn't I?" Black-Star grabbed Kid by the waist and kissed him.

"You guys are gross." Kenna said in a silly voice. "So nasty, get a room." The girl walked past the two and went into the kitchen of the house.

"You know, that's not a bad idea." Black-Star smirked at the other man.

"You're a pervert." Kid rolled his eyes, not saying that he agreed with Black-Star for once.

"Oh my God!" Kenna squealed from the other room. Kid shoved the star away and rushed into the kitchen, pulling out his knife.

"What's wrong?"

"There's running water!"

"I thought you were being attacked." Kid sighed as he watched Kenna turn the sink back off. Black-Star walked up behind him and set his chin on the shinigami's shoulder.

"Thank God the house is clear." Kenna removed her weapons and slipped off her shirt.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm taking a shower." Kenna stated and started to untuck her tank-top as she walked off.

"You know we could turn on the hot water and let her freeze." Black-Star chuckled and went past Kid.

"Or we could do something else." Kid stated.

"Like what?" The star asked with a large grin.

"Get the baby stuff we were sent for." The shinigami said and slipped off his bag.

"We can do that later." Black-Star grabbed Kid and threw him over his shoulder.

"Put me down." Kid softly hit the star's back as he was carried off deeper into the house.

"Don't worry I will." The star chuckled, both of them hearing water running and Kenna letting out a very loud sigh of relief. Black-Star kicked open a door and dropped Kid on the bed, thankful that the bedroom was clean. "How long has it been?"

"Over two months." Kid answered.

"We're ending that record right now." Black-Star slipped off his shoes and got a strange look from Kid when he put one of them on the doorknob and closed the door softly. "I am not in the mood to get interrupted again." The star stated before pouncing on Kid.

Kenna opened the door to the bathroom, watching the steam escape out into the hallway. She ran a brush she had found through her hair, reminding herself to ask Miriah to trim it when she saw her really bad dead ends.

"Hey Kid, Black-Star, you guys can get in the show..." She stopped when she saw a shoe hanging from a door and the girl felt her cheeks heat up at a strange noise from behind the door. "I'll tell them later." Kenna said to herself and she walked away from the door.

* * *

A little bit of seriousness and a little bit of funny with a dash of mentioned sex. Sounds like a good chapter to me.


	14. Is He Real?

Black-Star, Kid and Kenna returned to the apartment with bags filled to the brim with baby things from the house, seeing that they came in several minutes after Free's group. Free's run had gone alright except for a boy named Alex getting a cut from a kishin that had jumped him.

"Hey Kid." Tsubaki went up to the shinigami and took his bag. "I'm sorry for how I acted, I shouldn't be upset over this. Why you guys left is none of my business."

"I'll tell you, I'll tell all of you what happened, but not yet." Kid promised, not actually speaking the words out loud. Instead he said, "It's alright."

"Miriah!" Kenna squealed and rushed past the two adults, pulling something out of her bag. "Guess what I found!" Kenna handed Miriah a sketchbook. "I noticed that you were running out a pages." The girl rubbed her arm, suddenly shy. "I thought you might like it."

"I love it, thank you!" Miriah gave Kenna a quick hug before returning to her current drawing of Tommy and Timmy reading a book together.

"I'm going to the roof." Kid said to Black-Star softly.

"Want me to come with you?" The star asked.

"If I'm not back down in ten minutes." Kid stated before leaving the group.

The shinigami gave James a wave as he went through the door and climbed up the stairs to the roof. Kid closed the door behind and smirked at the sight that greeted him. He saw a pack of cigarettes, one of the cigarettes were out and a single match laid with it on the edge of the roof. Kid went up to the cigarette and placed it in his mouth, lighting it up with the match he had scraped against the ledge. The shinigami waved the match to make the flame go away and he dropped the wooden stick off of the roof and watched it fall as he took in a drag of the cigarette.

"So, when are you telling everyone about you and Black-Star?"

"The day you decide to come back." Kid answered Stein through a cloud of smoke. "When did you get on top of the door? I swear you weren't there five seconds ago."

"You need to work on your observation skills."

"You climbed up when my back was turned."

"Pretty much. Mind handing me the pack?"

"Why didn't you take them with you?" Kid asked as he picked up the cigarette pack.

"I thought this cigarette would last me longer."

"You're going to die young." The shinigami turned around and tossed the pack at the stitched-up man.

"I'm old enough." Stein caught the pack."So you and Black-Star? Care to explain how that happened?"

"You're not my teacher anymore, you don't need to worry about this." Kid said, tapping ash off of the tip of his cigarette.

"I may not be your teacher, but I am still your elder." Stein stated, putting a new cigarette between his lips.

"And how would me telling you about my relationship with Black-Star help anything?"

"Marie wants to know." Kid choked on his inhale, a puff of smoke was forced roughly out of his throat.

"Marie's alive! Where is she!?" Kid demanded.

"She's at our camp and no, she won't come back either...she doesn't want anyone to see her the way she is..." Stein pulled a box of matches out of his pocket.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She got attacked by a kishin demon and her face got ripped to shreds. I stitched her up and she's perfectly healthy. But she doesn't want to be seen by you guys, she thinks she's not pretty enough, no matter how many times I tell her she's beautiful." The ex-teacher lit his cigarette.

"That's why you won't come back, you won't leave Marie." Kid said in realization. "Didn't know you had a heart."

"Neither did I." Stein dropped his still burning match and it landed on the lower part of the roof, the flame still going.

"Having a heart sucks sometimes." Kid sighed and went over to the match, stepping on it and twisting his foot.

"How long till Black-Star shows up?"

"I give him five minutes." The shinigami answered and leaned against the wall next to Stein's feet.

"Long enough for a story?"

"Tell me what you know already."

"You and Black-Star got together and left, that's all we got, Lord Death nor Spirit would tell me why you guys left."

"You'd think you or Marie would know everything about us." Kid chuckled and took in a breath of smoke.

"We try, but you guys have been gone for five years."

"Don't remind me." Kid looked at his small cigarette and dropped it. "Hand me the pack." Kid caught the box as he rubbed the cigarette he dropped with the bottom of his foot.

"Marie called it you know." Stein stated and dropped the matches.

"Called what?" Kid asked, lighting his cigarette.

"You and Black-Star, she said that she saw the care in your guys' eyes even though all I saw was you two fighting all of the time. Now tell me so I have a proper story for Marie."

"I'll tell you if you promise to ask Marie to come back, she doesn't have to say yes, just ask her."

"Easy, I do it everyday anyways."

"Fine, I'll tell you. It'd be nice to get it off my chest."

"From the beginning."

"It officially started right after we defeated Asura, it was a simple kiss out of pure joy and we didn't discuss it for a good week." Kid glared up when he heard Stein chuckle. "I'm not telling the story if you laugh."

"You can't blame me, I'm a man."

"I'm one as well."

"Yeah but you're kind of the lady in the relationship."

"Fuck you."

"Black-Star can handle that for me. We both know what you two did at that one house, Kenna wouldn't stop squealing while you guys returned."

"Stalker."

"Queer."

"I will hurt you."

"I have no doubt of that." The men paused before laughing. "So what happened after the pure week of awkwardness. I need detail or Maire's gonna kill me."

"No one would believe this, but I went to Black-Star and asked him out on a simple date. Movie and dinner at my place, I had convinced Liz and Patty to go hang with Tsubaki so myself and Black-Star could be left alone and see if there were actually any feelings there and discover if the kiss had been on accident or not." Kid paused to take in another drag of his cigarette. "Turns out both of us had some...bundled up feelings for each other."

"You guys had sex on the first date?"

"No, not at all Stein. I'm not that easy." Kid chuckled. "We went out on several more dates and then we decided to tell everyone. We went to my father first. I was prepared for the embarrassment of him going 'That's so cute Kiddo' or 'Took you long enough to catch a man' or even 'Don't keep my little boy out too long Black-Star' but...that wasn't it."

"I can't imagine Lord Death saying anything different."

"After I announced that me and Black-Star were dating...he got mad. He got pissed off. I didn't understand, he told me that I was wrong, that it was a phase. He said to forget about it and that we were not allowed to be together. What right does he have to say who I am or not with!?" Kid crushed his cigarette and had to get himself a new one.

"There has to be a reason behind this. Lord Death is defiantly not homophobic, he loves everyone. He especially loves you Kid."

"He really didn't show that when he stated 'either break-up or leave'." Kid brought the flame of his burning match he had scratched against the box to the tip of his thrid cigarette.

"You should talk to him."

"He can come to me if it's that important."

"He can't."

"Why not?"

"He's-"

"Kid?" Black-Star's voice said behind the door.

"He's what Stein?" Kid looked up and saw that the other man was no longer there.

"Are you smoking again?" Black-Star asked with a smile.

"Yeah." Kid said softly and took another inhale of his cigarette. Black-Star pulled Kid's hand away and replaced the cigarette with his mouth. The star pulled away and a puff of smoke left through his lips.

"You look upset." He stated.

"I'm just tired."

"Sounds like I did a good job." Black-Star chuckled. Kid hummed and put the cigarette back in his mouth. The star gave the other man an annoyed look before taking the cigarette away, dropping it and stepping on it.

"I wasn't finished." Kid protested.

"Neither was I." Black-Star cupped the shinigami's cheek and pressed their lips together.

"Marie's still alive." Kid said when they parted.

"What? That's amazing!" Black-Star gave Kid another kiss. "Wait, how do you know this?"

"Stein told me."

"Stein?" The star sighed and held Kid's shoulders. "Kid, are you sure you've been talking to Stein?"

"Of course I've been."

"Maka told me about how you believe Stein is alive and...there's no way he could be. He went insane, ripping his stitches off as he ran away. Marie went after him and they never came back."

"I'm not talking to a ghost."

"Not at all, you're just talking to...yourself."

"I'm not crazy." Kid snapped and pushed Black-Star away.

"What about that moment you had in front of the store? When you heard that voice calling you to the academy?"

"I told you not to mention that."

"It would explain it, obviously the madness is getting to you and you're imagining Stein. That's why no one else has seen him or even heard him."

"He leaves by the time you guys show up." Kid snapped harshly.

"Kid." Black-Star said softly and stepped back up to his spouse, placing his hands on the other man's shoulders. "Let's just forget about this." The star rubbed Kid's arms.

"How can I forget about you and Maka thinking I'm crazy!?"

"Because we're all crazy." Black-Star gently kissed Kid. "And being here isn't helping anyone." Another kiss.

"We have to do something about the kishin demons. They're coming from the academy and we need to destroy them."

"Don't you think we all know this?"

"Yes, but do any of us know how to do so?"

"Stop making sence." Black-Star sighed and rested his forehead on Kid's shoulder.

"That's kind of my job." The shinigami chuckled.

"Hey!" Kid and Black-Star jumped from the sudden shout. "Hey, dudes on the roof! Over here!" The two men ran over to the ledge of the roof where the voice was coming from. "Are there more than just the two of you?" A man with brown hair asked from the roof of the building next door.

"What's wrong?" Kid asked the stranger, although he could swear that he'd seen him before.

"My friend's hurt, can you help him?" Black-Star saw the annoyance of the stranger having to admit about his friend, he must be desperate.

"Come on over." Black-Star told the man and grabbed Kid's wrist as he dragged the shinigami to the door.

"Shouldn't we ask Tsubaki or Free?" Kid asked as he ran down the stairs behind Black-Star, the other man had released his hand earlier.

"There's someone hurt, Tsubaki will not ignore that." Black-Star stated.

"What about Free?"

"Tsubaki can't ignore someone hurt." The star repeated, earning an eye roll from Kid as he threw open the door at the bottom of the stairway. "We have company." Black-Star said to the confused Tsubaki as he and Kid went to the front door.

"Kishin demons?" Tsubaki reached for her knife.

"Someone's hurt." Kid said before everyone started to panic.

"Oh dear. Miriah, get Nygus." Tsubaki ordered and the girl took off without hesitation. "Who is it?" She asked while putting her hair into a tight bun.

"We...don't know." Black-Star admitted.

"Are you gonna open the door!? My hands are a little full!" The stranger from earlier shouted from behind the door.

"Let him in, everyone, be ready." Tsubaki warned and Black-Star opened the door. The stranger rushed into the building with a blonde man resting in his arms. "Shit, what happened?" Tsubaki asked.

"His leg, it got fucked up and he won't wake up."

"Wait...that's Justin!" Kid exclaimed.

"Free grab him and take him to the table. Someone make sure the kids are no where near this area." Tsubaki went into leader mode and tossed out orders. Free went up to the stranger and Kid saw how the man hesitated, looking at the man in his arms before handing him over.

"There's something between those two." Black-Star said softly to Kid, showing that he had seen the same thing. Tommy and Timmy let out a squeal as they ran away from Talia. The twins ended up in front of the stranger.

"Who are you?" The two asked together.

"I'm-"

"What in the world is going on?" Maka asked as she walked out of her room with Soul behind her and Lance in her arms.

"Is that Justin?" Soul asked and ran over to the table.

"Is anyone going to tell me..." Maka saw the stranger and pure hatred filled her eyes. "Giriko."

* * *

I had to put them in the story, their my little babies.

Sorry for taking so long, life's been killing me.


	15. Keep Him?

"Get him out! Get him out, right now!" Maka snapped, holding Lance closer to her as the baby started to cry.

"Why are you here!?" Soul demanded, jumping in front of Maka with one arm as a scythe blade as soon as he discovered that the other man was here.

"I don't care, just get him out!" Maka demanded and that was when everything broke into chaos.

Everyone started shouting over each other. Nygus ordered people to get her supplies while helping Justin, Maka, Soul and Giriko were shouting at each other and the rest of the group yelled in an attempt to understand what was going on.

"Calm down guys!" Kid said to the two men, holding his hands out as he stood between Soul and Giriko to prevent them from attacking each other.

"Bring it you little shit! I should have killed you all those years ago!" Giriko stated.

"You are not helping your case!" Black-Star snapped as he blocked Maka with his body. Lance screamed as tears fell down his small cheeks and he started hicupping.

"I need thread!" Nygus said to a teenage boy who was going through a first-aid kit.

"Get over here!" Talia snapped at Tommy and Timmy while she tried to get the twins out of the room. The boys let out shouts of protest, saying they wanted to meet the funny-haired man.

"This isn't mature at all!" Kid stated.

"How aren't you dead yet? I'd figured you'd fall off a roof, drunk off your ass!" Soul said.

"I'll throw you off a roof!" Giriko threatened and walked up, pressing his chest against Kid's hand. "Move you brat!" The man shoved Kid to the side.

"Don't touch him!" Giriko let out a harsh curse when Kenna jumped on his back, wrapping her arms around the man's neck.

"Get off of me, you bitch!" Giriko shouted and reached back for the girl. Kid scrambled off of the floor but before he could get to the man, Miriah ran up with a bat in her hands and slammed the end of it into Giriko's stomach. "I'm going to cut you into little pieces!" Giriko growled and swung him arms out towards Miriah. The girl let out a yelp and stumbled back and onto her rear. Miriah moved herself back by her hands and scrapped her feet against the floor as Giriko went after her. The man grabbed the girl's ankle and pulled her towards him.

"Leave her alone you big pile of shit!" Kenna started pounding her fists into Giriko's back. Miriah screamed as she kicked her other foot at the man's arm.

"Quit hitting me!" Giriko threw his hand back and grabbed Kenna by the back of her neck.

"Let go of them!" Kid demanded, holding Soul back, not needing another friend to get involved in this unnecessary fight. Giriko shouted in response when Miriah bit his arm.

"Why you little-"

"Silence!" Tsubaki's scream made everyone freeze. Nygus was the only one that kept moving as she continued fixing Justin's leg. Tsubaki walked through the now silent crowd and went up to Giriko who had dropped Miriah's foot."Maka, Soul, go take care of Lance. The poor boy is going horse from crying." Tsubaki said to her friends and the adults hesitated but Lance's screams made up their mind and they left the room. "Kenna, get down." Tsubaki ordered. Kenna jumped off the man's back without a second thought and ran over to Miriah, helping her to her feet and getting her away from Giriko. "Please step outside, Giriko." She asked with a voice that said he had no choice.

"I'm not leaving without him." Giriko stated.

"You don't have to leave, just step outside so Nygus can work in peace."

"Why should I trust you?"

"Just do as she says." Free stated and joined Tsubaki.

"Not without Justin." Giriko insisted.

"Giriko?" A weak voice called. Giriko eyes popped and he shoved past Free and ran over to the table Justin was laying on.

"Justin? Are you okay?" He asked.

"My leg hurts." Justin stated.

"Of course it does, you little bastard." Giriko brushed away the younger man's bangs from his eyes. Kid and Black-Star shared a look, both of the surprised at Giriko's sudden change of character. "I told you not to go down there."

"But there was peanut butter, I saw it." Justin protested weakly.

"What was so important about peanut butter that you just had to go into the basement of that house?"

"You like peanut butter." Justin said with a smile. The man looked away from Giriko when several girls and even a few guys 'aw'd at the little moment.

"You're an idiot." Giriko was when Kid noticed everything was quiet, Lance had stopped crying.

"You've change...somewhat." Maka stated, rocking a now calm Lance in her arms.

"This nightmare does that to people." Soul added.

"Can you walk?" Giriko asked Justin, ignoring the other adults' comments.

"I don't know." Justin admitted and swung his feet around to the edge of the table.

"That's not a good idea." Nygus tried to warn the man before Justin jumped off the table. The blonde let out a scream of pain and fell over into Giriko's arm.

"That's a no." Giriko sighed and lifted Justin back up onto the table.

"We're stuck here." Justin stated, looking down at his wrapped up leg.

"It's not that bad here." Black-Star chuckled.

"Are you going to keep that?" Kenna asked. Miriah grabbed her arm and asked the other teen what she was doing.

"Keep what?" Giriko asked, obvious amusement in his voice.

"You're moustache." Kenna rubbed her own upper lip.

"Why are you asking me that?"

"I don't like it." Kenna stated, smiling when Miriah giggled lightly.

"Well I don't care, Justin likes it."

"No he doesn't."

"Yes he does." Giriko looked at Justin and the smaller man gave him and a shrug. "Really?"

"Told you." Kenna and Miriah laughed smiled at Kenna, knowing that the other girl had made that joke so Miriah would feel better. No one else saw it, but Kid and Black-Star both knew.

"I have a feeling that we are either not going to get along at all or be very good friends. I suggest being a friend." Giriko added the last statement with a hint of a threat.

"I suggest being my friend as well." Kenna grinned.

"I think I just found one of your missing children." Justin chuckled then put a hand on his forehead. "My head." He groaned.

"Headaches are common after a serious injury and you've been stuck with this man for a while." Nygus smirked. "Free, could you take Justin to an open room please?" Free nodded at the partially bandaged woman and walked over to Justin. The wolf reached out for the blonde, but Giriko slapped his hands away.

"Isn't that cute, he's protective." Kenna giggled. Giriko glared at the girl before scooping Justin up. Justin looked around and finally saw everyone that had been surronding him.

"Oh. Hello Death The Kid." Justin's face turned a light shade of pink.

"Greetings Justin, I see you've done a lot in your life." Kid winked.

"We can go now, I'm sure we can handle the kishins."

"Shut up, you can't walk, let alone fight." Free stated, gesturing for Giriko to follow him.

""At least that explains why he was so easy to be triggered into a fight." Kid stated as soon as the men were gone.

"Are they staying?" Talia asked.

"They are both very strong, Justin will be very useful after he heals and Giriko will most likely behave with us having Justin under our watch." Tsubaki said. "Giriko is a weapon isn't he?"

"He's a chainsaw." Soul answered.

"I'll take him on a run tomorrow and see if he's any good."

"You're not going alone." Kid said. "He can't be trusted alone, at least not yet."

"Fine, you and Black-Star can join me."

"Can I come?" Kenna asked.

"No." Kid, Black-Star, Tsubaki and Miriah said together.

"I don't want you to go off with that strange man." Miriah's comment caused Kenna's cheeks to turn a soft red.

"Okay." Kenna said.

"Remind me to use Miriah to get Kenna to behave more often." Kid said to Black-Star.

"I like that idea." Black-Star said back.

* * *

Sorry for not updating in forever and this not being that log of a chapter, real life has hit me hardcore.

Till next time my little...you guys need a name...


	16. Coming Out

Free returned to the room several minutes later, saying that the two other men were going to stay in the room until the run tomorrow morning.

"This is just too weird." Maka commented. "Giriko tried to kill us and now we're going to sleep under the same roof as him. This doesn't feel safe." She hugged Lance closer to her at her last statement.

"He's not going to try anything." Tsubaki stated.

"How do you know that?"

"Like I said before. We have Justin, we're the only ones that can keep him healthy and let him heal properly. Does Giriko really look like someone who can take care of a person medically?"

"I would love to hear the back story to those two, don't they hate each other?" Soul asked.

"Things happen." Kid said and ignored the grin Black-Star gave him.

"Maybe he should admit about what had changed." Soul said to Kid, having seen Black-Star's grin.

"Maybe he's waiting for the proper time." Kid glared at the white-haired scythe.

"Maybe instead of lying he should just come out with the truth straight up and not have everyone worry about him and pity him for the wrong things!" Soul snapped.

"What's your problem!?"

"You are!"

"Guys!" Tsubaki stopped the men's argument. "Kid and Black-Star left, get over it Soul." Soul bit his tongue, upset that Tsubaki and no one else but a few other people understood what he had been talking about.

"Kid, when are you and Black-Star are going to tell them?" Maka asked.

"Tell us what?" Tsubaki asked.

"Go ahead Kid, just tell the truth."

"This is not the time." Kid stated.

"Speaking of time, it's time to eat." Black-Star started to leave but stopped when Soul grabbed his wrist.

"Why don't you tell everyone Black-Star, you'd think you'd be announcing about you and Kid." Soul said to Black-Star softly.

"I'm not doing it without Kid, like it's been said, people change." The star pulled his hand away.

"If you two won't, I will!" Soul snapped.

"Soul, it's not something for us to tell, they have to do it on their own." Maka stated.

"What is going on? " Tsubaki asked.

"Nothing that concerns anyone." Kid said.

"Kid, maybe we should..." Black-Star's sentence trailed.

"Not yet, it's not time."

"When is it going to be? I'm tired of lying Kid. I want them to know."

"Know what!?" Tsubaki snapped.

"That's it!" Free's shout made everyone pause. "Kid and Black-Star are-"

"Keeping my secret!" Kenna shouted over Free, standing up next to a sitting Miriah.

"Kenna?" Kid said.

"I'm sorry Kid, but I can't keep it in anymore." Kenna took in a shaky breath and looked down at Miriah. "Miriah...we've gotten to know each other very well over the past five years, as friends...but you don't know something about me..."

"Kenna, you don't have to-"

"I do, I need to get this off of my chest." Kenna inturrupted Kid. "I was hoping to do this in private, but at least I have a support team if all goes bad...Miriah...I'm...I'm gay. I'm a lesbian." There were several gasps of shock from the crowd watching. Kid's jaw dropped, surprised at how brave Kenna was being.

"Good for you, but what does that have to do with me?" Miriah asked, getting up as well.

"Miriah...I..." Kenna's face turned a bright red. "I love you." Everyone took in a breath together and watched in silence, waiting for Mirirah's response. Miriah only stared at the other girl, her face blank of all emotions, not giving away a single thing. Kid could see Kenna trembling in fear and couldn't even imagine how the girl was feeling right now.

"Kenna..." Miriah finally said, but the tension still grew in the room. "I don't know what to say..." Miriah then smiled. "But I know what to do." And without warning, Miriah grabbed Kenna by the front of her shirt and pulled her into a kiss. Most of the crowd cheered, others watched in stun silence, Kid and Black-Star cheered the loudest for the girls.

"I..." Kenna stuttered out after they had parted.

"Took you long enough." Miriah chuckled.

"This is great!" Black-Star cheered and wrapped his arms around both of the girls. lifting them into the air. "I was worried you were going to never say anything."

"Black-Star! Put us down!" Kenna said between laughs.

"You're going to hurt them Black-Star." Kid said with a smile.

"Maybe you could use this moment to admit something as well Kid." Maka said.

"This is about Kenna, this is her moment. I'm not taking that away from her." Kid stated and went over to Black-Star and convinced the man to release the girls.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. Everyone had forgotten the argument that was about Kid and Black-Star telling the truth about something, they were too distracted by the new couple of the group. Kenna and Miriah were the same with each other, to a degree. Kenna was more open with Miriah, not having to worry about saying anything to give away her secret she had just announced to everyone in the building and word got around quick to the ones who couldn't hear or weren't in the room at the moment. Kenna and Miriah sat together and talked as if everything was the same, but they held hands every now and then.

Tommy and Timmy had asked if the two girl were like their parents, in love. Miriah had blushed and looked away from the twins and Kenna smiled and told them that they were just like their parents, in love. The boys asked if it was the same love as their parents, with them both being girls and all. Kenna nodded her head, saying love was love no matter who or what the other person was.

Kid felt his heart drop after seeing the small scene between Kenna and the twins, he wanted to know how Kenna could be so brave about it while he struggled to tell the rest of his friends about him and Black-Star, was there something wrong with him? Why was he so scared to admit what he was while Giriko and Justin came in without worry and Kenna just announced her love for Miriah publically and Miriah had kissed her.

"What's wrong with me?" Kid asked Black-Star when the men finally went to their room for the night, the shinigami was laying on the bed and staring at the ceiling as he spoke.

"What are you talking about?" Black-Star slipped his shirt over his head.

"Giriko and Justin pretty much admitted they were together and no one cared. Kenna and Miriah got together in front of everyone and again no one cared. Why is it that I can't admit that _we_ are together?" Kid looked over at the star and saw his shirtless partner playing with the doorknob. _  
_

"I'm no shrink or anything, but I think it's because of your father." Black-Star stated and joined Kid on the bed.

"What does my father have to do with this?"

"Well, he rejected you for being gay so you're afraid of others doing the same thing to you."

"I hate it when you use your brain." Kid sighed.

"I'm more than just a very sexy body." Black-Star chuckled.

"Sometimes I wonder about that." Kid smirked. The shinigami let out a grunt when Black-Star moved and sat on his stomach.

"What is that supposed to mean?" The star asked, leaning so his and Kid's face were only inches away from each other.

"You can have it mean whatever you want." Black-Star grinned before pressing their lips together, intensifying the kiss quickly and running a hand along Kid's chest.

"Wait." Kid pushed Black-Star away.

"The door's locked and everyone else is in bed Kid." Black-Star leaned forward for another kiss, but Kid held him back.

"Double-check the door."

"But-"

"Do it." Black-Star muttered under his breath and went to the door. He grabbed the doorknob, turned it and pulled, finding that the door was not successfully locked. "Told you."

"Shut up." The star quickly locked the door properly and pounced right back on the bed.

"We're going to have to talk to Kenna later."

"I know, I know. Now let me have some fun." Black-Star grabbed Kid into another kiss, continuing and finishing what he had started earlier.

* * *

*Squeals* Kenna and Miriah finally got together. I still can't believe my oc's have a ship...I feel special.

So when are Kid and Black-Star going to admit their relationship? You're just gonna have to wait.


	17. Circus

]Kid woke up on his back on the bed and Black-Star's arm wrapped around his shoulders. The star snored softly against one of Kid's shoulder, but the man still felt a shiver of cold go down his spine. The shinigami sat up, trying to do some math in his head and discovering that it was now mid-fall and it was going to start getting cold soon. Tsubaki's probably already thought about this and there are most likely already extra blankets and clothing laying around.

"Hey Kid, Black-Star, it's time to go." Tsubaki said, knocking lightly on the locked door.

"Okay, give us five minutes." Kid called back and rolled out of bed. Shivering from no longer being under the warm blanket.

"Kid?" Black-Star groaned, reaching out for the body that was no longer in the bed.

"It's time to g o on the run Black-Star." Kid stated and stepped into his boxers.

"I don't wanna." The star whined and threw the blanket over his head.

"Get up." Kid grabbed the blanket and yanked it off of Black-Star, exposing him to the chilly air."Unless you want me to leave without you and have you miss all the fun."

"I hate you." Black-Star grunted and sat up.

"Sure you do." Kid winked at the star, grabbed a shirt from the floor and slipped it on, only to find that it was a little too big.

"Did you just put my shirt on?"

"It was an accident, moron." The shinigami rolled his eyes and removed the shirt.

"Deja vu." Black-Star smirked. He wasn't smirking long when Kid threw the shirt at his face.

"We have to get ready, the others are waiting." Kid stated.

Kid and Black-Star quickly dressed and left the room. A young boy, introducing himself as Cylas, handed the men two bowels and stated he was joining them on the run.

"When are we leaving?" Kid asked Tsubaki when he joined the woman who was leaning against a wall.

"After you guys get done eating."

"What's with the teen...Cylas?"

"There's a certain place I want to go to and I need Cylas' skill."

"What skill could that child posses that me and Black-Star don't?"

"He's not a child, he's sixteen."

"Hes a child."

"You and Black-Star left when you were sixteen."

"I was seventeen, Black-Star was sixteen and that's not the same thing. I'm a shinigami and Black-Star's...Black-Star."

"Could we have one day without someone arguing over something stupid?" A broad girl asked. "Cylas is getting impatient and is ready to go." She stated before walking off.

"What skill does he have?" Kid asked when the girl was completely gone.

"He's a climber." Tsubaki answered.

"A climber? Have you not meet Black-Star? He would climb on top of the DWMA everyday and you two would jump tree to tree for your missions. Why do you need Cylas?"

"Black-Star's shoulders are too broad." Kid raised an eyebrow and sipped from his bowel. "Where we're breaking into, we need Cylas."

"What are we breaking into?"

"You'll see." Tsubaki winked.

After Kid and Black-Star finished eating, they meet the rest of the group at the front door. Giriko was complaining about leaving without Justin to Tsubaki while Cylas played with the strap on his belt. The girl from earlier watched the boy, her arms crossed and waiting to go.

"Who's the girl?" Black-Star asked.

"'The girl' is named Lexi." The girl, Lexi, snapped.

"She's here to keep and eye on Cylas, the boy gets distracted easily." Tsubaki stated, having finally gotten Giriko to calm down.

"Let's just go so we can get back." Giriko stated and started to leave.

"Hold it there big-boy." Tsubaki stepped in front of the man and pushed him back. "If you're living here, you're doing this our way. I lead."

Why?"

"Because I can't die." She said and took off. Black-Star went after her and Kid gestured for Giriko to go and the shinigami watched Cylas and Lexi leave before bringing up the rear.

"How far is this place anyway?" Giriko asked as he watched Black-Star climbed the fence.

"Not far, but far enough." Tsubaki stated.

"What kind of an answer is that?" Giriko grunted as he threw himself over the fence.

"One I give people I don't trust yet."

"Smart girl." Giriko chuckled. Cylas climbed over the fence without a problem, even going back to the top to help Lexi get over.

"Maybe he's not that bad." Kid commented to himself and joined the others on the other side of the fence.

"Why is it that you can't die?" Giriko asked when they took off.

"Ask Free, he's better at telling the story than I am."

"He is pretty good at stories, although I'd think I'd be better. He's no fun, he's serious the whole time. The audience will fall asleep if you don't add a comedy release. Maybe use a silly voice or act something out with your hands or-" Cylas stopped his monologue when Tsubaki froze. The woman put one hand in the air, she held two fingers up, made a fist, then one finger, back to a fist, held up five fingers and gave them a thumbs up before taking off.

"What is she doing and why are we just standing here?" Giriko asked.

"There are two kishin demons, she's going to take care of them and we count to fifty before going after her." Lexi answered.

"What?"

"It's a little hand thing we do." Cylas said. "The first number is how many kishins there are, second number is how many people are necessary and the third is how long we wait times ten." The boy chuckled.

"Fifty." Black-Star said and ran. Giriko went after the man, Cylas bent down to pick something up and Lexi had to shove him forward so he would realize they were going.

Tsubaki waved to the group, two dead kishin demons laid at her feet. Cylas ran up to one of the kishins and tapped it with his foot, jumping several feet back and letting out a yelp when the demon turned to dust. The boy laughed and went over to the other kishin, kicking it as well. He let out a shout of surprise when the kishin gurgled and grabbed his leg. Lexi quickly reacted and stabbed the kishin in the face with a sword.

"Guess I didn't cut deep enough." Tsubaki said with a nervous chuckle.

"Don't worry, at least he won't be kicking corpses anytime soon." Lexi stated as she patted the slightly shorter boy's head.

"The place is close, another three minutes or so." Tsubaki stated. "Come on Cylas, I know that there's going to be candy where we're going."

"What? Yay!" Cylas grabbed Lexi's wrist and followed Tsubaki.

"What a child." Kid sighed.

"Candy!" Black-Star ran after the three, letting out a cheer as well.

"Even grown ups like candy." Giriko stated, smiling down at the shorter man. Kid watched Black-Star run, remembering when he had grabbed candy bars for Maka, maybe Giriko had a point.

"They better have Crunch bars." Kid said.

"Won't know till we look." Giriko took off, Kid hesitated a second before letting out a sigh and following the group.

They made it to the building without any more interruptions. Tsubaki kicked open the glass doors and walked in. Cylas ran in and disappeared with Lexi right behind him.

"A bank? What's so special about a bank?" Giriko asked.

"I found suckers." Cylas returned with a sucker in his mouth and a basket filled with more.

"I have a feeling we're not here for old suckers and cash." Kid stated and took a lolly from the basket. Tsubaki didn't answer the shinigami and grabbed Cylas by the shoulders, turning the boy to face a large vault.

"Cylas, do you see that vent up there?" She asked, pointing a finger up. Cylas hummed and nodded his head. "I need you to get up there and climb through the vent. When you reach the other side, find a panel with buttons and press, four, four, six, nine. Got it?"

"Yep."

"Repeat the numbers."

"Four, four, six, nine."

"Can you do this?" Cylas pulled the sucker out of his mouth, the candy top gone.

"Easily." The boy said, crunching the candy between his teeth. Kid went up next to Cylas, trying to see a route the boy could take to get up there. Kid looked at Cylas to give a suggestion and stopped himself, seeing Cylas' eyes twitching back and forth.

"Is he okay?" Kid asked.

"He's fine. This is how he works." Lexi answered and without warning Cylas took off. The boy ran up one wall and leaped off of it, wrapping his arms around a pole. He quickly jumped to another pole, higher up. Cylas scrambled up the pole a little and threw himself at the wall with the vent. His fingers dug into the small ledge on the wall and he hung by one arm while the other worked on removing the vent covering.

"He's like a monkey." Black-Star chuckled.

"Reminds me of someone I know." Kid said. "Remember my first day at the DWMA? You were on top of the building and jumping around like an ape."

"You used to always climbed buildings like a monkey." Tsubaki added and the group laughed.

"Adults are so weird." Lexi muttered. The three adults flinched when the vent covering clattered against the ground. "Four, four, six, nine!" She shouted at Cylas as he shimmied through the vent.

"Got it!" Cylas' voice echoed.

"How long do you think it's going to take him?" Giriko asked, grabbing himself a sucker and putting another one in his pocket. Tsubaki held up a hand and counted off from five. She reached zero and snapped her fingers, the large safe opening. "Oh look, a brick wall." The man clapped his hands. "This was so worth our time."

"Wait a minute." Tsubaki snapped and walked up to the brick wall, a confused Cylas trying to figure out what he did wrong. "Don't worry, you did what you needed to." Tsubaki placed her hand on a brick that had a small red dot on it. She tailed her hand to the right by four, down four, right six and up nine. Tsubaki pressed the brick and stepped back. "Here's what special about this place." She said with a smile as the brick wall split down the middle and pulled apart, showing another room.

"Oh my God!" Cylas shouted and sprinted in. "This is awesome!" The boy jumped on to ribbons that hung from the ceiling.

"What is this place?" Lexi asked as she and the others walked into the room.

"Back in the day before the kishins this was a great place to party...a circus." Tsubaki pointed at Cylas, who was now spinning on the ribbons.

"How do you know about this?" Kid asked, bending down to pick up a small kazoo.

"During the first year that you guys were gone, I started to hang out with some people and the owned this place."

"This place is so cool." Black-Star commented and wondered off.

"Why are we here?" Kid asked.

"You guys look for anything useful. I came here for something I forgot long ago." Tsubaki answered truthfully and walked away.

"Hey Kid, I found the candy!" Black-Star waved his partner over to a large chest he was kneeling in front of. Kid sighed but joined the man anyway, filling his bag with the surgery treats for the young ones back at the apartment. Giriko went over to the bar and filled his bag with soda cans, sipping on a beer as he did so. Lexi started going through the other boxes and filling her bag with random items such as plates, bowels, silverware and canned food. Cylas continued his playing on the ribbons.

"I found it!" Tsubaki cheered.

"Found what?" Black-Star asked through a mouthful of chocolate.

"It's my guitar." Tsubaki played several chords. "I worked here myself for a while and I was in charge of playing music with several other people. When the kishins came I had to leave this behind."

"Nice to know we came all the way out here for some wood and string." Giriko muttered and went over to a wooden door.

"That's a cool guitar." Cylas said upside-down on his ribbon.

"Are you guys ready to go?" Tsubaki asked, slipping her guitar on her back.

"We haven't checked behind this door." Giriko stated and kicked the door.

"It's just props-" Tsubaki grabbed her knife when Giriko was attacked by kishin demons.

"Cylas get down!" Lexi ordered and stabbed a kishin that got too close to her. Cylas pulled a knife from his belt and threw it down, the blade stabbing into the head of a kishin that was sneaking up on Lexi. "Nevermind, stay up there."

"Where did these little shits come from!?" Giriko cursed, hacking away at the kishins attacking him.

"We need to get out!" Kid shouted over the demons' screams. Cylas let out a cry as kishins shook and clawed his ribbons and caused him to fall.

"Cylas!" Lexi ran over to the boy.

"My ankle!" He cried.

"Help!"

"Black-Star, get Cylas. I'll take care of Lexi." Kid said to the star and pushed his way through the kishins.

"The door's closing!" Giriko shouted, killing kishins before running past the closing brick wall.

"A kishin must have pressed the button, everyone go. We can't open the wall from the inside."

"Come on Lexi." Kid grabbed the girl's wrist.

"What about Cylas?"

"Black-Star's got him." He stated without looking and dragged her towards the exit.

"Come on Cylas." Black-Star picked the boy up to his feet.

"My ankle hurts." Cylas whined, leaning on the man.

"You probably just sprained it." Tsubaki stated and helped Black-Star get Cylas on his back. "Go, go, go." Tsubaki pushed the star forward.

"You're coming, right?" Black-Star asked.

"Of course, now go!" Tsubaki pushed Black-Star again and the star ran.

"Where's Tsubaki?" Kid asked when Black-Star joined them outside of the building.

"She was right behind me."

"Tsubaki!" Kid called out for the woman.

Everyone froze when they heard the brick walls slam shut and a scream.

* * *

Ending a chapter like this is what I'm famous for.


End file.
